In Love with the Lawyer
by AlyNoel849
Summary: This fiasco started when I was re-watched this movie for the umpteenth time, because I think Dave Franco is the cutest thing ever and I started thinking… If they all went to Paris for however long, who stayed and watched the apartment for them?… So, I made up my own answer! Plus I really appreciate JackxOC stories. He's too cute to be alone.
1. Chapter 1

Now You See Me

*** This fiasco started when I was re-watched this movie for the umpteenth time, because I think Dave Franco is the cutest thing ever and I started thinking… If they all went to Paris for however long, who stayed and watched the apartment for them?… plus I really appreciate JackxOC stories. He's too cute to be alone. ***

"Hello. My name is Alison Kelley. I'm responding to an ad in the paper about staying in an apartment while the owners are away. Sorry I missed you. My cell number is (123)456-7890. If you are still interested, please call me back after 7 o'clock Monday through Friday, and any time on the weekend, I'd like to schedule a meeting with you, and possibly discuss further details. Thank you."

The message on Daniel Atlas' voicemail rang on speaker phone throughout the messy, disorganized apartment loud and clear.

"Well, we leave for Paris in just over a week, and this Kelley lady is our only responder so far," Henley said with a shrug.

"Which is the most disturbing part, honestly. What would a nice young lady want to live in this gross place for? Surely, she is smart enough to have done her homework and to know that these apartments are… less than ideal." Merritt wondered out loud.

"You think she's hiding something?" Jack asked in his usual confused way.

"Everyone has something to hide," Daniel stated. "I'm going to call her back…" He checked his watch, "… in approximately 17 minutes."

"You could at least give her a minute or two to get home. I mean, if she gets off work at 7…," Henley chastised.

Daniel waved an uninterested hand at her from his place behind the kitchen counter "Fine. 27 minutes."

Alison Kelley had just walked into her motel room to retire for the evening, when her cell phone rang flashing an unknown number in her face. It was odd. She wasn't expecting any calls on a Tuesday evening.

 _I hope it isn't…_ Alison's train of thought stopped abruptly.

"Hello. Alison Kelley speaking." She said in her soft voice.

"Miss Kelley, this is J. Daniel Atlas returning your call about my ad in the paper."

"Oh, yes. Thank you for calling me back." Alison dropped her purse and brief case unceremoniously on the floor and reached around for the light. As she turned on the light, she made sure to pull the cheap curtains shut as well.

"I was hoping we could arrange a meeting tomorrow evening, perhaps after you get off work?"

"That sounds fine. I can be at your apartment no later than 7:30."

"Perfect. If you would wait outside, I will have my roommate Jack meet you and show you upstairs."

"Oh," _Well, that is unexpected…_ "Yes, of course. I will arrive by taxi then, and wait on…"

"Jack Wilder," Daniel repeated.

Alison took a brief moment to jot down the name. "Mr. Wilder. Perfect. I will see you both tomorrow. Have a good evening. Bye."

 _Mr. Atlas is a brief man… almost rude_ , Alison mentally noted when the conversation ended. _I guess it's a good thing I won't really be living with him then, just watching their place, so I can get out of here._

With that happy note and a long sigh, Alison pulled out her brief case to being her work all over again. You never really stop being a lawyer, especially a New York City lawyer.

The next day Alison paid the taxi driver with a smile and tipped something extra with a "Have a good evening."

45 East Evan Street was not an impressive place, as she knew it wouldn't be. The building itself looked like most of the apartment buildings in New York, and Alison didn't have much hope for the interior. She honestly didn't care all that much. It meant a roof over her head until she could figure something else out and that's all she really needed.

Shouldering her bags she made her way to the front stoop of the building where she found a very good looking young man sitting.

 _Waiting, maybe…_

"Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to know a Mr. Jack Wilder, would you? He lives in number…" her soft voice reached his ears on a cloud.

When the man looked up Alison was surprised. He was young, younger than her perhaps. His dark eyes and hair complemented his tanned skin well and he sported a lopsided grin upon meeting her gaze.

"Oh, yeah, that's me. You must be Alison Kelley. Nice to meet you." Jack stood, stuck out his hand for hers, and they shook on it.

"Nice to meet you." There was a pause while Jack sized her up. Young. Pretty. Clean, polished look. Wearing professional attire. Pretty. Very pretty.

"So," Alison's voice snapped him out of his trance- like state. "Should we head up or do I not pass inspection?" She gave him a small smirk of her own. A smirk that might have been flirty, should she had not been dressed so… professionally.

"Right. Yeah, let's head up. Here, let me help you with those." Alison allowed him to take her brief case and he led the way up the stairs to apartment 6A.

"Thank you. Much appreciated. May I ask where you and Mr. Atlas are going?" Alison took in her surrounding as they headed up the stairs. She most definitely was not impressed, but beggars can't be choosers.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. We're all headed to Paris."

"Wow. I'm jealous. Paris sounds amazing. Are you going with girlfriends or family or…?" Alison was testing the waters now and Jack didn't seem to notice.

"Nope. Just us roomies," Jack answered shortly. "What do you do for a living to be dressed like that?"

"I'm a lawyer, actually." Alison said trying to judge his reaction. Some men didn't like smart women.

"Really?! Wow. I mean, that's not intimidating at all." Jack laughed it off. Maybe he was one of those men... "Here we are. Home sweet home."

Jack opened the door for her with a wave of his hand to a frightfully dull and rather messy place. There was a beautiful, young woman shuffling some papers about in front of several computer screens, trying to organize and hide them away. Another young man was in the kitchen preparing drinks. An older, but by no means old, man was pushing around what could be called furniture trying to make space for all of them to sit for this little meeting.

"Guys, Alison Kelley is here," Jack called in. He walked on in like it was natural, while Alison stayed some steps behind, afraid to break anyone's concentration.

The woman was the first to move. "Hi," she put on a cheerful face. "My name's Henley. How are you this evening?"

"I'm well. Thank you for asking. And yourself?"

"Fine, thank you. Just trying to keep the boys in line." Henley laughed. Alison laughed too, for comfort's sake.

Jack had set her brief case down by the coat rack near the door. The other young man was approaching her now.

"Alison. J. Daniel Atlas. We spoke on the phone." He reached out his hand and she shook it firmly.

"Yes, hello. It's nice to meet you in person." _I hope they can't tell how nervous I am…_

The older man was the last to introduce himself. He grabbed her hand and held it in both of his for a moment. "Merritt McKinney. It's a pleasure to meet a lovely young lady such as yourself."

"Oh, thank you," was all Alison could say before Henley interjected.

"Don't creep her out Merritt. We want her to watch the place for us while we're gone."

"So you're all going to Paris. How lucky!" As nervous as she was, Alison tried to be present and a part of the conversation.

Jack and Daniel had moved to sit on the old beat up couch. From his seat, Jake spoke up, "I know right. I still can't believe it. I mean, I've never been outside the state of New York."

"Really?" Alison started.

"Well, we're not going to site see. Don't get your hopes up," Daniel interrupted.

"So business then? Are you all in the same line of work? Who are you working for?"

"Trade secret." Daniel responded before anyone else could. _He said that too fast…._ Alison thought this was getting more and more sketchy by the minute.

"Ok… I'm fine with that. Everyone has the right to privacy, but, before I get myself involved in this, allow me to organize my thoughts. The four of you share a two bedroom, one bath apartment… secretly. And you're all making your way to Paris for however long, an extended amount of time, yet to be determined… secretly." Alison had made her way to an empty chair and made herself comfortable.

"You know how suspicious this all sounds, right? I did mention I'm a lawyer, didn't I?" Alison took to looking at each of the horsemen in turn, trying to figure them out. "So what is it? Drugs?" She was trying to be casual. "You're way too pretty to do drugs. It'll ruin you," she addressed Henley shaking her head in a stern way. Rather than her usually soft voice, she had taken on a more commanding one; her lawyer voice.

"No, no, it's nothing illegal." Jack assured her. He had enough sense to see that this wasn't headed where they had wanted it too.

"We're magicians, actually. We're setting up for a trick."


	2. Chapter 2

"Jack, you can't just tell her all of our secrets." Daniel was getting quickly getting angry. He rose from his seat in his moment of furry. Alison interjected before he could do anything rash. She wasn't sure if he would or not, but she aired on the side of caution.

"Ok. Ok. Magicians. Going to Paris. That's cool." Alison attempted to clear the air and ease some tension. The last thing she need was another angry man in her life. "You don't have to tell me. 'Trade secrets'," She made air quotes with her fingers, "makes more since now. I get it." It seemed to work. Daniel sat down again.

"So, back to the original question. All four of you live here?"

"Well, no, this is what you might call, in your fancy lawyer terminology, our headquarters. Jack and I stay here for the most part." Merritt stated in his calming, yet sarcastic voice.

"Daniel and I have our own apartments in the city," Henley followed.

"Together?" Alison inquired with a quirk of a singular slender eyebrow.

"No, not at all. That's hardly feasible."

"Oh, of course not. I would never..."

The two in question stammered and stuttered over themselves and each other, in attempt of forming responses.

Alison put her hands up and gave a smirk, her voice light with joking. "Right, of course. My mistake."

"We will all be gone for quite some time, not sure how long yet actually, and we're looking for someone to sit on the place. Rent and utilities are paid for, all you would have to cover is groceries and other essentials you may need."

"Not so fast Daniel, my young friend. Let's find out a little more about the young lady first. I know one of us here would definitely like too." Merritt scooted forward on his chair and removed his fedora, preparing for a "reading."

 _Damn it, Merritt_ …. Jack thought

Alison didn't recognize these cues the way the others did and began speaking, "Well, I'm not originally from here at all. I moved for college. I work for a firm on…"

"Oh, no. Allow me to illustrate for our friends the inner workings of your mind." Merritt waved his hand dramatically.

"Merritt is a mentalist. A mind reader." Henley provided the answer to Alison's quizzical look.

Alison smiled and shrugged good-naturedly, "Ok, I'll play."

"Wonderful. Not from here, you said. I'm thinking a small, rural place, yeah? The kind of place where everyone knows and may or may not be related to everyone else?"

Alison nodded with a smile and a small laugh.

"You weren't a cheerleader type or a jock. No, you have always been far too intelligent for people like that."

"Why, thank you Mr. McKinney. You're right. I was pretty nerdy," Alison laughed. "Even if I expressed an interest in sports or anything of that nature, they wouldn't have wanted me on the team. Not too popular, but I graduated in the top 5% of my classes in high school, college, and law school."

 _She's getting more and more intimidating as this goes…_ Jack wasn't sure how to feel about all this information about a very beautiful lady being thrown his way.

"I'm going to take a guess that boys didn't matter too much then. In high school, I mean, but in college that changed a bit. You moved to New York for college… Stereotypical story of wanting out of the little town you were in comes to mind first, but I don't want to put in that box."

"Stereotypical, but true. I think I'm the only one who really succeeded in leaving Liberty. You know, we all talked about it, where we would go, what we would do, but if I recall correctly most other girls my age got married or pregnant before they could make something of themselves and, uh, not necessarily in that order. It's pathetic really."

"Oh, darling, I don't think anything about you is pathetic. But I understand that you're _trying_ to be hard to read. I can imagine you being a very good lawyer, miss, but trust me when I say that I have been reading minds for longer than you have been alive."

Alison tossed he head back in a light hearted laugh that rang throughout the dingy apartment. It was a new sound that the walls seemed to resonate back at each other, holding on to the echo for as long as possible, so it would be imprinted into the memories of everyone in the room.

"What? So, you all are allowed to have secrets, but I'm not?"

"It's all about building trust, my dear. We are sort of trusting you with our secrets, are we not?"

"Well, if you want to think about it that way, it's my job to keep people's secrets. Don't you think?"

"Perhaps you have a point there, depending on the type of law you practice. It's all civil law, though, isn't it? Anyway, I think you fell in love in college and he convinced you to stay here for law school. He is a he, isn't he?" Jack perked up his ears, while still trying not to look too interested after Merritt's earlier comment.

"Yes." Merritt followed the knit of her eyebrows, the flare of her nostrils, and the ever so slight shift of her weight in the chair, any tiny little detail to make his predictions. The way Alison formed this word let Merritt know they weren't together anymore.

"But he isn't in the picture anymore, and now you're stuck here in New York away from your family? You know what? I think that this break up was pretty recent and that's why you need a place to stay for a while, too get back on your feet and what-have-you."

"Well, that's a nice way to put it, isn't it?" Alison couldn't make eye contact with Merritt, or any of the magicians anymore.

"What are you running from?" Daniel asked firmly.

"Look, if you guys can have secrets, so can I." Alison's firm lawyer voice from earlier was harder to find this time.

"No, not really," Daniel said in his arrogant way said.

"Excuse me?" Alison retorted with force.

"Daniel is basically the definition of a control freak." Henley was trying to ease the tension, but wasn't quite accomplishing it.

"Like Merritt said earlier, this is our headquarters of sorts. We have sensitive information all over this place."

"I can tell. Not exactly tidy, are you?" Alison said snidely, pursing her lips at Daniel's attitude as he began to pace the apartment.

"We can't just let you stay here and risk some crazy ex-boyfriend showing up and getting his hands on this."

"Oh, please. It can't really be _that_ important, first of all. What are you trying to do? Rob a bank? Secondly, he hasn't found me yet. He won't find me here, _if_ he's even looking. Even if he does, I can guarantee he'll be _way_ too wasted to successfully make it up 6 flights of stairs. You, Mr. Atlas, are severely underestimating my intelligence, and frankly, overestimating my ex's sobriety, if you think, even for a second, that I didn't do plenty of research and have my own motives for being here."

Alison was good at commanding a room. The horseman were quite for a moment, the walls playing tricks with Alison's voice again. The silence was disturbed in the very next by Alison grabbing her purse and getting up to leave.

"Well, it was a pleasure to meet most of you…" She nodded to the three horsemen that she had a shred of respect for and powerfully made her way to the door.

"But if you will excuse me, I don't have to put up with this shit. I just got rid of one psycho. Thanks anyway." Alison made her leave, brushing by Daniel coolly, without so much as a glance.

Before she could reach the door, Jack had stood up and followed her. In his childish way, he tried to bridge this gap that had formed so suddenly. "Hey, look, I get it. You're right… Daniel's not… a people person, but you're the only person who has taken us up on our offer."

Alison was not impressed with this, "Oh, I would never have guessed." She shouldered her brief case and turned around to look at him. "Good luck finding another taker."

"Danny, you better fix this."

"Miss Kelly, please reconsider..."

"Look, you won't even have to deal with him, promise."

The other horseman had the same since of urgency that Jack had. This was there last shot. A tenant wasn't needed, per say. The instructions did not call for one, but Daniel was the one that said it would be safer.

Alison looked like she was thinking very hard.

Daniel looked like he was thinking very hard.

Alison made his decision for him.

She looked at Jack, who was standing the closest to her. "Jack, would you be so kind as to accompany me to my hotel room, to help with my bags?"

The cab ride to Alison's hotel room was entertaining in its own unique way. She was able to let her hair down, literally. She unclipped her French twist and ran her fingers through long, light brown locks. She spoke to the driver smoothly, explaining this would be a round trip, and then sat back with a sigh.

Jack was at a loss for words, as usual. He felt like this was freshman year of high school all over again, and his buddies dared him to talk to a senior. He didn't realize that he had been staring at her until she waved her hand in front of his face and laughed.

"You have a beautiful laugh," was the only thing that came out of his mouth.

"Thank you, Jack." Her voice was beautiful in general. It started so soft, but, when necessary, she could silence a whole room effortlessly.

"Oh, come on, man. You gotta have something better than that." The cab driver put in his two cents and Alison laughed again.

"I'm sorry. I don't know…" Jack was mumbling to her, fighting back a smile of his own. She was highly contagious.

"Don't be sorry. That's the nicest thing I've heard in a while." Alison said softly, as she moved her hair to one side. "I've been staying in this little motel for just over a week. I'm very thankful for your trip. Jealous, but thankful," Alison laughed some more. "There won't be too much you have to carry, but I thought… the extra hands would be helpful."

"Sure, I don't mind at all." And he didn't, but he was running out of things to talk about. _Surely she doesn't want to know more about me…_

"So, tell me about you," Alison had turned herself to face him on the bench seat of the car.

 _No way…_

Alison saw the look of astonishment in his eyes, so she tried to recover. "I mean, I feel like I just spilled my guts, or rather had them ripped from me, and I don't know anything about you guys."

"I'm no one special really. Just a street magician that got lucky, I guess. We haven't been working together very long…. I don't know what else I should tell you without revealing too much." Jack attempted to laugh it off.

"Oh, I understand. You wouldn't want to get yourself in trouble with Atlas," Alison allowed for a dramatic eye roll.

"Honestly, Daniel isn't so bad when you learn to ignore him. You just gotta take it with a grain of salt, you know?"

Alison nodded, "What brought you into the magic business?" She enjoyed having someone to talk to. It certainly had been a while since she had an interesting conversation outside of work.

"Oh, you know, it's a pretty stereotypical story," Alison gave him a glare that turned into a smirk when he threw her words back at him.

"Started as a hobby when I was really little that slowly morphed into an obsession, when I realized, hey, I'm pretty good at this. This is the first time I've ever been with a group. The others are a lot better than me. They just have all of this experience doing shows and stuff and I haven't really gotten to that part of my career yet. It's intimidating 'cause I'm surrounded by three seasoned veterans, but this is my chance to get out there, you know?"

"Yeah. I understand that feeling completely. Honestly, Jack, I think you're too modest. I'm sure you all have things that you are good at. I mean, how does Merritt _do_ that? That was crazy, but I'm sure you have plenty of tricks of your own up your sleeve."

"I like to think so, yeah. I'm ready to use this skill for entertainment rather than conning people."

"Conning people? Jack! You know you're talking to a lawyer, right?" Alison laughed and swatted playfully at his arm.

"Well!" Jack laughed along with her. "Street magic doesn't really pay the bills, you know, and my folks got sick of that real quick. It was a do or die kind of thing, honestly. Next thing I know, my folks are pissed, I'm out on my own trying to make ends meet, doing something I love during the day, magic, even if it is nothing big, and bar tending, something I hate, at night. And this had been going on for years. So then, when this opportunity came along, I was super excited. Not only because I could do magic all the time, and get to learn a lot from the others, but because now have a place to stay for free and I could quit my bar tending gig."

"That all sounds great. It's a shame your folks couldn't support your dreams then, but it's all working out now. What do they think now? I mean, have you spoken to them about your new plan?"

"I told them as much as I could. They still think I'm crazy, but I think they realize that I'm doing something real this time, a real game changer for me."

"That is a step in the right direction then," Alison said happily, smiling, unconsciously trying to make him smile.

It worked. Jack smiled and chuckled softly. "I hope moving in with a bunch of magicians is a step in the right direction for you."

"You love throwing my words back at me, don't you?" Alison gave him another flirty looking glare/smirk.

"It's not my fault you have such a way with them." Jack shrugged and chuckled some more when Alison tossed her head back in laughter for the second time. Neither of them saw the taxi driver roll his eyes.

"I don't see why not, honestly. This is probably one of the most exciting and mysterious things I have ever done, to tell the truth."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So, important question for you guys as my followers, which I would greatly appreciate your answer to, do you think that these chapters are too short? Or that the story is broken up in weird ways? If so, how can I improve? Your quick and immediate response (even if that seems pushy) will be the most helpful, so that I may start on the next chapter ASAP. Thank you. ~AlyNoel**

After making it to the motel and returning to HQ, Jack and Alison were talking like they had been friends all their lives. Alison appreciated the fun conversation. Jack was loving that he had all of her attention.

They managed to get 3 boxes of shoes, 3 suitcases of various sizes containing clothes, and a duffle bag of make-up and toiletries in to the taxi in one go, but up 6 flights of stairs would be another story. When they came up the stairs on the first trip, the other horseman were shocked, to say the least. The pair had laughed the whole way up, with lots of gestures that could have been considered affectionate.

"Hey, maybe I should've gone to help get her bags," Merritt said. "If I knew it would mean getting laid, I would've volunteered."

Henley just rolled her eyes at this comment. "Let's go help. I'm sure there is more."

Merritt got up and left with Henley, but Daniel didn't move from his place at the computer. He was bouncing back and forth between several pages. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, all with Alison Marie Kelley's profiles pulled up. Her Insta and FB profiles were private and her Twitter didn't look like it had been used since she was in a sorority in college. All of the information was the same.

Female. Duh.

Identified herself as half American, half German. Not surprising.

26\. Guessable.

Lawyer. Already established.

Graduated from Who The Hell Cares High School, NYU, and then Columbia Law. Ok.

Currently working for The Lanier Law Firm, LLC on East 56th St. Done.

Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary for her, despite the fact that she changed her relationship status to single about 2 months ago after several years of being with some guy.

That was about as much of a background check as Daniel was going to get to do on their new, unsuspecting partner in crime before she was completely settled in.

With the help of Merritt and Henley, the second trip was their last and Alison's belongings decorated the small foyer, looking as out of place as ever in the bland apartment. "Now all we really have to figure out is the sleeping arrangements," Alison said with a grin and very little hesitation. She looked at Merritt and Jack for the answers, since they were the ones who lived in HQ full time.

"Why don't we do this?" Merritt started, placing an arm around the young ladies shoulder. "I will sleep in my room, so that I may have the privacy due to an old man like me and won't disturb you with any of my evening company…"

"Mr. McKinney! I did NOT need to know that about you," Alison laughed.

"And you and Jack can share the other bedroom, considering you have hit it off so well," Merritt finished.

"Oh no," Alison laughed while trying to hide the blush spreading across her checks, "Merritt, what do you take me for? No, don't answer. I'm afraid to know."

Jack took this time to interject his opinion, "Though I definitely wouldn't mind, I don't think that is the best solution."

"Look at you, talking like a lawyer already. Did you mature about a decade in just one cab ride? Well, we only have the two twin beds. Mattresses on the floor, not even real beds." Jack and Merritt began sweeping Alison's things gracefully into the back bedroom, closest to the bathroom. Well, Merritt with grace and Jack with more clumsiness.

"I will buy another mattress, second hand somewhere, for myself. Until then, I will just crash on the couch." Alison's words didn't make the boys stop, as she had hoped they would. There was no need to set her up in a bedroom, when they needed it more.

"Until then I will sleep on the couch," Jack said with no hesitation.

"Until then I will take up the offer of a lady friend of mine," Merritt said. "You two can have the place to yourself for a few… Just until you get the new mattress. I don't need this girl thinking I'm attached or in any way emotionally available."

Everyone laughed and Alison just quirked her eyebrows, chuckled, and went along with it.

"Hey, if it's fine with you, it's fine with me. Thank you. I appreciate it." She said as she reached into her large purse. "And to show my appreciation, I brought this for you all." She revealed an unopened bottle of red wine.

When the boxes were stashed away in her new room, the bottle was uncorked, and the wine was poured, Alison raised her solo cup. "To safe travels and new opportunities."

"Cheers"

"Amen."

"Agreed."

"Mmm, this isn't too bad. Better than out of a box, for sure."

The Wednesday evening rounded out quite nicely. Alison quickly retired to her new room, after only a sip or two, to unpack and settle in, ripping herself from Jack's side like a Band-Aid, painless to her, painful for him. Merritt left for his friends place around 9. Daniel and Henley spent some more time planning, but mostly arguing about their trip, without taking any input or opinions from Jack, before they both left for the evening. Jack was eating in front of the TV when Alison emerged from her room. She was wearing joggers and a tank top with her hair down and make up off. Jack didn't notice these beautiful details until she placed herself next to him on the couch.

"I just realized I haven't eaten much all day. Whaddya got?" Jack jumped at the sound of her voice so close to him and then was immediately enamored by her.

"Um, uh," Jack swallowed the bite in his mouth, so he didn't spit at her. "This is leftover Chinese food."

"Do you mind sharing?" Alison gave a sheepish grin and got up from her perch next to him and went to the kitchen for a plate and fork when he answered.

"Yeah, sure. Help yourself. There's mostly fried rice left, but you can have the rest of these noodles if you want."

"No, that's fine. You eat however much you want and I'll eat what's left. Thanks for sharing. I appreciate it."

"No problem at all," Jack felt like he was going to die. _She is so nice…_

"So, what are you watching?" Alison asked between two bites of rice, but she wasn't focused on the TV. She and Jack were having an informal staring contest, where she bat her eyelashes at him shyly and he gapped at her.

"Uh, nothing really. Just background noise, honestly," Jack was speaking slow and softly, as if in a trance. "You're seriously beautiful." As soon as those words left his lips, Alison's face turned red and she grinned from ear to ear. As soon as those words left his lips, Jack regretted it. Alison laughed loud when Jack's face turned red too, throwing her head back the way she does. _God, you dumbass…_

"Thank you, Jack. And you are seriously handsome… and very much a gentleman I've noticed. You guys make me feel really welcome here, which I'm eternally grateful for."

"Don't even worry about it. It's no big deal," Jack shrugged it off.

"It's a big deal to me," Alison smiled. "If I had to spend another night in that dirty motel, I was gonna freak out." She laughed lightly and pushed her rice around on her plate.

"Not that you've upgraded very much," Jack laughed with her, giving her his signature lopsided grin.

"Oh, I don't mind. This place just needs some TLC is all… It was more about being alone, you know. Being on edge all the time and feeling like I have to watch my back constantly."

There was thick silence as they just looked at each other, neither really sure where to take the conversation next.

"So, coincidentally my boss is getting his daughter a new bed and what not and is willing to give me her old mattress and box spring. He even said he'd get it here for me. Should be by the end of this week. And then you and Merritt can share the other room or something…?"

"Yeah, that's more than likely what will happen… But we're leaving on Saturday, so it won't really matter."

"Oh… you're right…," Alison replied. "Well, I'm still going through with it, that way I'll have it when I have to move again."

"That's a good plan… What happened to... like, your other things, when you left your ex?" Jack didn't want to intrude, but was still really curious.

"Well, I kicked him out of our apartment and stayed there for a while, but he kept coming back at all hours of the night, in various levels of sobriety, busting his way in, demanding, when he was more sober that I take him back, or when he was not so sober that I was the one who had to leave. 'You can't do this,' blah blah blah. 'You don't have the right,' blah blah blah. I got tired of it and I'm sure the police and the building manager did too, and honestly, I didn't want to see him ever again, so I just left. The building manager probably let him back in, I mean, our lease wasn't up or anything, so I'm assuming that's what happened."

"You just left everything there?"

"Well I packed what I could, but for the most part, yeah. None of that stuff is worth having anymore. It all has bad memories attached to it now."

"That makes sense," Jack didn't know what else to say. There was more silence.

"What if I could help you get some stuff back?" Alison gave him a curious look as she chewed her rice, so Jack continued.

"I mean, we go over when he isn't there, I pick the lock, if you don't have a key anymore. Do you have a key anymore? Ok, so I pick the lock and we get like a dresser, or dishes, or something, I don't know, whatever you want, and then we leave and he'll have no idea it was us. Ta-Da!"

Alison chuckled at Jack's great big, proud-of-myself, grin. "That would definitely freak Thomas out, for sure… But I work every day this week and you don't need to be arrested for breaking and entering before you leave for Paris. Not happening!"

"Oh c'mon! It's only illegal if you get caught and I won't."

"Jack, you can't guarantee that." Alison gave him a stern look.

Jack scoffed playfully, "Excuse me ma'am, but in case you don't know, I am a professional."

The two laughed together and Alison gave in, "Well, legally I'm still a resident there, until Tom signs a new lease, so the manager would have to let me in, meaning you won't have to risk anything, if you wanted to come with me to grab some sheets, towels, and dishes for us."

"But that's no fuuuuun! You're taking out the best parts! What about the suspense and the adrenaline rush and the 'I'm gonna vomit' feeling?!"

"I figured you'd say that, but honestly, I feel like I've had enough suspense to last me a life time…"

There was more silence. Alison had forfeited their staring contest and had taken up a new one with her paper plate.

Jack was the first to speak again. "He treated you pretty bad, huh?"

"Jack, you have no idea," When Alison looked up at him again her eyes were brimming with tears and suddenly Jack didn't know what to do.

"The whole thing was horrifyingly stereotypical, the textbook picture of an abusive relationship, you know? Like you fight, he makes you feel bad about it, like it's all your fault. The threatening to leave, the threatening to kick me out, the threatening to kill himself or me or both of us… but he would never actually do it. I didn't think, with the gifts and apologies and everything that followed, I thought there was no way he would ever do anything to hurt me after everything we had been through... I never realized anything was wrong, or unhealthy, or whatever until it got physical, you know? God, the first time he put his hands on me….. I thought I was gonna die…. I don't know how I wasn't smart enough to see it, but….. all I know is that I never want to go through that again. No one in the world should _ever_ have to deal with that."

"Hey, wait, this has nothing to do with you not being smart enough, so don't even think that. I've known you for like 5 hours and I am 100% sure that you are the smartest person I've ever met." Jack tried and succeeded in lightening the mood. Alison smiled up at him through her eyelashes and Jack realized how close they were.

 _Legs touching, borderline entangled…. Arm draped on the back of the couch, close enough to accidentally on purpose touch her bare shoulder… I bet my breath smells like Chinese. Hers smells like toothpaste._

"You're just saying that. You're too sweet, Jack." As she said this, her cheeks colored and she resumed her staring contest with her plate.

"And that's a bad thing beeecaaaauuse….?"

"I don't know. I don't think it is, but…" Alison's voice trailed off and she suddenly wanted to look anywhere but at him. She sighed and got up, taking her plate to the kitchen to throw it away. "Goodnight, Jack," she glanced at him on more time, before she went back to her bedroom. The way he was looking at her, with kindness and compassion in his eyes, it was a look she hadn't seen in a long time. Alison couldn't sit under that stare and not feel something that she knew she shouldn't be feeling towards a man she just met.

She stopped herself, and turned to him, "See you in…. Well, will I see you in the morning?"

The question reached Jack's ears and his heart ached to touch her, to reach out and assure her that he would be here for her no matter what especially in the morning, but that was creepy…. Way too creepy to say to someone that he'd just met, even if it did feel like he had known her forever. Besides, she was all the way across the room.

So he just smiled, a lopsided, toothy grin, "Yeah, see you in the morning."

With that and her sweet, sleepy smile that made his heart lurch again, she disappeared down the hall.

When morning came Jack woke to the smell of coffee brewing. At first he wondered why, but as the events of yesterday returned to him, he smiled. Alison must be up. He rolled over and looked at the digital alarm clock sitting on the floor. 7:30.

 _Uhg, why so early?_ But then he remembered that he said that he would see her in the morning, and, with a stretch, got out of bed.

As he stepped from his bedroom and made his way to the kitchen, he could see and hear Allison moving around looking for something to eat. "Good luck with that," Jack said from his spot at the coffee pot, pouring two cups for them.

"If I would've known I would have been more prepared." Alison huffed, crossed her arms, and turned to Jack. She was dressed in the same outfit as last night.

"Sorry. I didn't think about warning you," Jack responded. "How do you like your coffee, ma'am?"

Alison just shrugged, "Lots of cream and sugar." She thought for minute. "Forget the coffee. Let's get some real food. Do have plans this morning?"

"I do not," Jack said as he stirred in some sugar and handed her a mug.

"Thank you. Sorry, I'm kinda crabby in the morning, you know, before I have ..… Mmmmm this is good." Alison gave another sleepy smile, enjoying her drink.

Jack laughed and thanked her as he sipped on his coffee. Alison had finished half of her mug before she started talking again.

"Let's go out for breakfast. Where's a good place near here?" She didn't give him much of an option and Jack didn't really want another option.

"When do you have to be at work?"

"Well, I usually go in around 9, but I can make adjustments if necessary." Alison was moving back to her room, having finished her coffee. "I can get a shower and be ready in an hour, if you are up for another adventure with me." She gave him a toothy grin over her shoulder.

"Of course… yeah… awesome." Jack kind of stuttered a response at her as his eyes followed her out of the room and his thoughts turned to what their adventure might hold.

An hour and a half passed and after awkwardly taking turns in the bathroom, Alison was dressed in a professional suit with a colorful blouse under her jacket. Jack was originally dressed in battered jeans and a t shirt. She was finished before him and was waiting in the living room, as he spent some time investigating on his phone. He stepped out to see her facing away from him, looking out of the window and dressed so much nicer than him.

 _I should've known…_ Jack was immediately embarrassed and turned on his heel before she could see him to change into something more appropriate for breakfast with a lawyer.

His second attempt was still casual, still jeans, but dark wash and with no holes, a darker colored t shirt and a poorly fitting black sports coat that belonged to his dad many eons ago. "You look wonderful," was the first thing out of his mouth and definitely caught her attention.

"Thank you. So do you. Wow, you clean up really nice." Alison gave him a grand smile, stepping closer to him to smooth out his jacket lapel, while Jack silently hoped she wouldn't notice its age.

"So I had this idea, it isn't exactly near here, like you wanted, but how about we go to the Ritz for a champagne brunch. Does that sound alright?" Jack said as he put an arm around her waist to keep her close to him, flush against his side with her hand still on his chest, and gave what he hoped was a confident smile.

"Wow, what a treat!" Alison gave a light hearted laugh showing off her pearly whites. "Going in to work with a champagne buzz on a Thursday will definitely be an adventure."

They moved to leave the apartment still in a very close proximity, both of them looking incredibly out of place in the dreary space.

Jack had chosen the Ritz, his outfit and a town car over a cab in an effort to impress (obviously), but also to prove to himself and to Alison (but mostly to himself) that he could live in her world and in her kind of lifestyle, even if he had never before.

"The company threw a party here once, to celebrate a big anniversary or something, but that is the only time I've been. I'm very excited." Alison smiled ear to ear at him and accepted his arm as he offered it.

"Good. I'm glad. I have never been, but there's a first time for everything."

They were seated immediately being one of the first people to arrive for brunch, with Jack paying the cover charge. They chatted effortlessly, sipping on their drinks, as they waited on their food. As Jack had hoped, the champagne made it much easier to talk to the beautiful woman in front of him.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I like that we are able to be alone, just us two. I just don't think that you would get the best impression of me with the others around," Jack said very honestly.

"Well, what impression were you hoping to give off? Because I think you're doing a marvelous job at just being yourself." Jack thought that Alison's smile could win awards or start wars.

"Well, you know, the others don't take me seriously. They think that I'm just some kid, and I guess I am, especially compared to you, but I don't want you to think of me like that. I want you…. Well, to take me seriously." The drink was making it easier to talk, but suddenly Jack found himself talking a little too much.

"Jack, what are you, like, 24 or 25?" She waited for his reply, a nod of the head. "See? We are pretty much the same age. I just turned 26 a few months ago. But don't worry about what your coworkers think. I face the same problem, honestly. And I'm a woman. I swear, they treat me like a secretary sometimes, like, seriously? Guys, I have a degree for the same shit you do and I promise I'm better at it than you are." Alison was talking a lot more too, but she didn't seem to notice it. Jack was actually shocked for a second; this was the first time that he had heard her curse.

Jack laughed heartily which caused Alison to as well. "Yeah, but you seem so much older. You have accomplished so much more and are doing so much better." Jack leaned forward on the table, trying to look at her in the face, but not make eye contact.

"No, no, no, no. Don't do that. You can't compare yourself to someone else and, please, not to me. You won't get anywhere in life comparing yourself to other people." Alison gave him a very firm look over her glass of champagne, which she didn't seem to leave sit very much.

Jack laughed at her cute face. She certainly didn't look very intimidating to him, no matter how hard she may have been trying. She couldn't have been trying too hard, because when Jack began to laugh, she laughed too.

Something about Jack's carefree smile and laugh made Alison really open up. A lot more than she maybe should have, especially for someone she had only just met. But right now, she really didn't care. She was having a great time with a really nice guy, who also happened to be really hot.

The best part about Alison, Jack thought, was that he wasn't sure what she was thinking and he told her that. "You seem like you are going to be hard to figure out, and I'm looking forward to that."

Alison laughed, "But Jack, I'm an open book. _You_ can ask me anything… But just you."

"Just me?"

"Yeah. Henley and Merritt seem great, but I'm not so sure about Daniel, to be totally honest. But that's just between me and you." Jack nodded.

"I totally understand. Daniel is the worst one for me. Like I respect him so much as a magician and I have always looked up to him, but now that I am getting to know him better as a person, it just really bugs me. He's … excessively condescending."

"I totally understand," Alison took this moment to reach for Jack's hand and hold it for a while. And by 'a while', I mean long enough for the waiter to come and take empty plates and bring more waffles, before she let go. It was a nice feeling for both parties, warm and caring, and Jack didn't feel like his hand was overwhelmingly sweaty.

And when she let go, Alison felt like she had done the right thing. She had decided to give up on thinking these feelings all the way through and was just going with the flow, which was a decision against her better judgement to begin with. But being with Jack felt nice. Not like the 'butterflies in her tummy' kind of nice, but like 'warm, inviting, coming home from a semester at college' kind of nice, which was a kind of nice she hadn't felt in so long.

 _Momma and Daddy would like Jack…._ Alison knew that she was done with her drink when that thought crossed her mind and made her smile. Despite the fact it made her smile, she figured she was over stepping her boundaries.

 _But on the other hand, what boundaries? We just met a few days ago so, were stranger boundaries needed? Or maybe friend boundaries? Considering we're rooming and having a drink together,_ _friend boundaries where more appropriate, right? And that isn't really a weird thought to have about a friend, right? So I should be able to have another glass, right?_

Alison allowed to waiter to pour her another glass of champagne while she laughed at a story Jack was telling about one of his first gigs. "You know, I would really like to see some of your tricks in person. I can't remember the last time I saw a magician live that didn't pull a rabbit out of a hat."

"That can defiantly be arranged. The show that we are planning is going to blow your mind."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Enjoy. Reviews are greatly appreciated! ALSO, A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS FAVORITED AND FOLLOWED! LOVE YOU ALL! Xoxo ~ AlyNoel**

"I would love to know more about your upcoming show," Alison said with excitement.

"Well...," Jack thought that maybe he had said too much. "This whole trip to Paris is actually in preparation for it." Jack was hoping that would be it, but with a lady as smart as Alison, of course she had more questions than he could give her answers to.

"But, what is it going to be? What would you have to go to Paris for? For just one trick?" Alison was about as bubbly as her champagne, and then it hit her. "Oh, you're not allowed to tell me, are you?"

Jack shook his head solemnly. "Oh, ok. I'll just have to be surprised then." There was some silence as Jack just enjoyed his view across from her, but Alison spoke up again. "Well, will I get a ticket to your show?" She flashed him a big smile and leaned in close, borderline batting her eyes, as if he was really going to tell her no.

"Of course, you will. To all three of them. You will get a front row seat if I have anything to say about it." Jack leaned in to her too, and his voice instinctively dropped to a husky whisper that Alison would have swooned over if they weren't in public. There was a moment of eye contact before her eyes fell to his lips, and then Alison came back to reality.

"Good," was all she had to say before she sat back in her seat again. Jack could have sworn that he saw a hint of a blush on her cheeks. _Could she possibly feel the same way I do?_ The idea that this chick, who was _way_ out of his league, could possibly get the warm-fuzzies in her stomach the way he did was too good to be true, but if she is really blushing for him, or rather because of him…. _Hmmm…._

Jack had a lot of thinking to do about Alison and what this was going to turn into. Of course, he didn't expect anything to happen at all when they first met, just that they would be roommates and maybe friends. But now, surely they were friends at the very least, because people who weren't friends didn't have champagne brunch together, right? No, they were definitely feelings there. But, Alison was going to be tricky. As far as he knew, she had just gotten out of a really bad relationship that may have been her only one ever.

Jack had come to the decision that he could not second guess himself with her and possibly make a mistake. He was either in or out. He either liked her enough to love her one day, or he wasn't going to mess with it at all, for Alison's sake. He was not about to hurt her even more.

"Hoo, ok. I think I'm finished," Alison's voice brought Jack out of his deep thought processes. He wasn't counting her drinks, but perhaps he should have been. She looked really tipsy. He, one the other hand, didn't care for champagne and had only sipped from one glass. _Did she have two or three?_

"Are you going to be okay for work?" Jack took her hand this time. Alison looked at him and laughed much louder and longer than usually, as if he had said the funniest thing in the world. All the while she was shaking her head 'no'. _Is this supposed to be my answer?_

"Oh, Jack, this was a great idea. I need to go to work, but I don't think I can get away with this." All Alison could do was laugh, even though she knew nothing was supposed to be funny. "I need to wait this out for a few hours. I'll tell my boss that moving was hard or something like that. Let's go, though. Back home."

That made Jack's head feel funny, like he had more to drink that he really did. She called the shitty apartment, which they both happened to inhabit, 'home' and she wanted to go back there with him. _Ok. Be cool. No biggie._ Jack tipped the waiter, escorted Alison out, into a town car, and 'home'.

"You know, you're supposed to eat with your alcohol, so it doesn't make you so tipsy so fast," Jack commented, when he realized he didn't see her eat very much.

"Oh, yeah, I know. That's like the number one rule; I'm just bad at it." Alison had taken up whispering low to him and giggling a lot. "Oh, don't look at me like that! I'm just not a big breakfast eater. It's usually just coffee and toast for me, maybe a donut or bagel after a meeting or something, but we didn't even have that and I was irritated, and when you offered… I just couldn't help it. I'm sorry." Alison pouted at him and looked up at him through her eyelashes.

"NO, I mean, no. It's not a problem, I just don't want you to get in trouble at work. You were the one who wanted to go out, so I thought I would try to impress you. If I knew all I had to do was go get donuts- hahahaha." Alison's face just cracked him up. He felt nervous and didn't know what else to do, but laugh.

"Jack, you don't have to try to impress me. I mean, you already do, all by yourself." Her eyes and hands were wandering and playing with his. Getting her out of the car and into the building wasn't too hard. Jack did notice though that Alison couldn't exactly walk the straightest line.

"So, uh, what's the plan for the rest of the day? I mean, are you going into work? Do you need to call someone?" Jack asked as they carefully made their way up 6 flights of stairs. Alison's heels seemed like they were in the way, but it didn't help that ALL of her attention was on Jack, when it should have been on her feet. She kept tripping and missing steps. Jack walked behind her to make sure she didn't fall, but she kept trying to look back and talk to him.

"What time is it? Um, Melanie, uh-oh, should be, uh, giving me a call any minute, wondering where I am. She's, opps, my assistant. Well, not just mine, uh, a few other's also, but she likes me the best. And I like her the best too. Yeah. Oh, opps."

"Ok, that's enough of this." Jack stated.

With Alison facing him, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Alison gasped, "Hey, woah!" But didn't say much else about it, she just laughed and enjoyed her upside down view of his butt in those jeans. The blood started to rush to her head and she blurted out, "Omg, please don't rip one."

Jack laughed so hard that he almost dropped her. When they reached the landing leading to HQ he put her down, allowing her body to slide down the front of his, and feel every curve of it on the way down. She landed on her feet and didn't let him go. Her hands firmly on his shoulders with his arm tightly around her waist, they could feel each other's heart beats. It was hard to tell which was beating faster. The moment of eye contact was intense, as their breath mingled together and they held tightly on to each other before separating, each party blushing furiously at the very close and equally unexpected contact. Racing minds and silent lips did not clear up any of the forming questions.

They made it inside of the apartment and just stood there, not knowing what to do or how to react.

Alison was saved by the ringing of her cell phone, which she quickly fished out of her purse. "Hey, Melanie. I need you to cancel my whole day. I won't be in at all…. Yes, everything is fine. Moving in the middle of the week wasn't a very good idea….. Yeah, sure. I'm sure he won't mind….. I will see you tomorrow, bright and early for sure. Thanks so much, Mel. You're the best…. Have a good one. Bye."

Alison hung up the phone with a big smile and turned to Jack. "Let's go on another adventure."

Jack looked down at her, confused, but smiling his signature sideways grin at her. With the moment that they just shared, Jack though that her definition of adventure could be _anything_. "You do realize that you cannot pass a sobriety test right now."

"I do, but that's why I have you." Alison stepped flush against him and put her hands on his shoulders, mirroring their accidental position from moments prior. "We need to go shopping for some basics and I know exactly where we can get them all for free."

The big, somewhat mischievous, smile from Alison was all the convincing Jack needed. He knew exactly what she had in mind.

About an hour later, after the two had changed clothes and made it a few blocks, without anyone suspecting Alison's slight impairment, to Alison's old apartment building. Jack hung out in the alley and started pulling down the fire escape, while Alison went around to check with the door man.

"What exactly are you planning on doing with this information, Ms. Kelley?" The older gentleman asked with a concerned look on his face, but a small smile in his eyes.

Alison just laughed and waved, and came back around the corner, beaming with happiness. "Charlie told me that Thomas actually left for work today. We should be good to go." Jack nodded and allowed her to head up the fire escape first. When they reached her former apartment, Jack was able to get in the window easily. Alison was impressed, but decided not to say anything about his breaking and entering skills.

Alison had emptied her purse and brief case and Jack had an empty backpack and duffle bag to fill to their hearts content. Jack started in the kitchen. The fridge was just full of alcohol, which didn't help them very much and the pantry wasn't much help either, but he picked up as much as he thought would be helpful. Alison had disappeared to the bedroom to get towels and sheets.

While she was gone, Jack had a look around the apartment and realized just how much Alison had downgraded by moving in to HQ. The whole place smelled like alcohol and cigarettes, but if you looked past that and the mess in the living room that Thomas had obviously contributed to, the entire apartment had a classy, sleek vibe and was really, _really_ nice _especially_ compared to HQ.

Alison came out with her arms full, "I think it would be best if we wrapped the dishes in these and laid them in the duffle bag. Everything else can go in the other bags." She opened some cabinets and directed him to what she wanted. Jack noticed that in the stack of towels and sheet, there were also some men's clothes, but he didn't say anything. Alison then directed her attention to rummaging through drawers, when she had found what she was looking for, she held it up triumphantly. "HA!"

"A key?"

"The key to the safe." Alison answered walking back to wherever she had come from with the towels.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Jack asked with a laugh.

"Absolutely!" She called without looking back at him. She came back with stacks of envelopes, some were big with just 'tax info' on them, one was marked 'Ali's personals', which could have been anything from birth certificates to diplomas, one was marked 'A's bonds', which could only be one thing, and there were a few small white envelops with mysterious items in them that jingled around and one was filled with cash, Benjamins and Grants only. She put all of these things in her briefcase and filled the rest of the space with a few plates that Jack had wrapped in towels. All Jack could think of at this moment was that she had a cute nickname.

"You know, I wish we could take the dresser in the back room," Alison said as she stuffed her purse with food stuffs. "I don't really need it, but it belonged to my grandmother."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think that will work out." Jack said. Alison shook her head sadly and sighed. "But, hey, maybe another time, ok?" Alison looked up at him and gave a small smile, which was all Jack really wanted. _Even if it isn't true, it's a nice thought._

"Alright then, let's wrap this up and get the heck out of here." Alison was visible becoming more and more uncomfortable by the minute, and Jack, having a close eye on her, noticed before she did.

"Already on it. Let's go." Jack whisked her away, back to the window and down the fire escape. They walked back to their apartment, which was a strange thought to Alison, but whatever. Jack on the other hand thought it was a warm and fuzzy thought, that it was 'their' apartment, at least for the next few days.

As they walked away Alison relaxed a little, but her eyes still seemed dimmed. Jack took her hand in his as they walked together and spoke softly, "That was really brave of you, you know. I know that you weren't really up for that, but I hope you had fun, or at least feel better. I don't want you to stress about it."

With his last sentence, he gave her hand a comforting squeeze and let it go, moving away from her so that their shoulders weren't brushing anymore. Alison felt her whole body warm up with his kind words, like she'd just drank something much stronger than champagne. She did feel better, but only because she was with him. Being back in her old apartment made her slip into a trance. All she could see were past sins in that place.

Alison gave him a big smile and took his hand again, "Thank you." She was quiet for the rest of the walk back to HQ.

Jack, on the other hand, was dying on the inside. Alison was holding his hand again, like on purpose, because she wanted to. They were walking down the street, hand in hand, _like a real couple_. It was a dumb idea, Jack knew, because they had only known each other for a few days and they didn't know that much about each other, but he couldn't help himself. He felt an instinctive protectiveness over her, to make and keep her happy and safe, and he didn't see anything wrong with following that instinct and he certainly didn't see anything from Alison saying she didn't want him following that instinct.

In all honest, he would probably never tell her, but at least he could show it if she let him. Alison didn't seem to have an objections to the way he was attempting to express himself yet, so Jack decided he was going to keep doing what he was doing. _Whatever happens, happens…_

They got back to HQ and unpacked their new things. Alison turned to Jack as they were finishing and said, "Thank you again. Adventures with you are lots of fun. I appreciate it."

"Not a problem. I look forward to many more adventures with you, when The Four Horseman are on the road." Jack smiled big for her.

"The Four Horseman, huh? I like it. How did you think of it?"

"Oh, I didn't. Merritt did," Jack lied, knowing the others would kill him if he spilled much else.

"That sounds like something Merritt would come up with. I bet that there was lots of debate with Daniel."

"Well, not really….. Uh, I feel like you two got off on the wrong foot. He's not all that bad, I promise."

"Really? Because you were telling me at breakfast that he didn't take you seriously about just about anything."

"I said that no one in the group takes me seriously..."

"Which is better becaaaaauuuusse?"

Alison looked at him, waiting for his response, so she could shoot it down again. She wasn't really sure what her point was, which was very much unlike her, especially in her line of work.

Jack looked at Alison and thought that she looked cute when she was trying to win an argument…. _An argument?_

Jack smiled his signature, sexy, sideways smile at her and stepped closer, "Are we having our first fight?" Jack watched as all of the gears in Alison's head switched directions and she cocked her head, grinning at him.

"I wouldn't call it a fight… Our first argument, perhaps." Alison spoke in a low voice, almost ashamed of herself, but when she looked up at Jack from behind her lashes like that, he knew she was just being flirty.

"Hmmm, our first argument about something stupid." Jack reached out his hand and ran it lightly down her arm. He was much more confident in touching her since the hand holding began. His eyes trailed down her arm to her hips and all the way down her body and back up again.

"You just won't admit that I am right." Alison followed his hand with her eyes and watched as he played with her fingers when he reached her hand.

"Ok, fine. You're right." Jack captured Alison's eyes for a long, serious stare, with those finite words. His voice was low, in a whisper, just for her. Alison watched as a mysterious thought crossed his mind and a mischievous grin began to play at his lips. "I should make it up to you."

Alison's interest and every hair on her body peaked with excitement. His voice alone worked wonders on her. "Yeah? And how, exactly, do you think you are going to do that?"

Jack took the hand he was playing with/ sort of holding and tugged her forward toward him, to which Alison took a step forward without resisting. With their bodies much closer it was easier for him to lean down, while staring at her lips and say, "I think I have a pretty good idea."

Alison's eyes flickered quickly back and forth between his lips and his eyes, to make sure they were still staring at her lips. She found herself leaning in as much as he was, and, with the way her heart was pounding, she was not surprised by it.

Their breath mingled together and Jack thoughts were overtake with the idea of how soft her lips were going to be and Alison felt like her heart was going to explode if he didn't just kiss her already. Her heart practically did when the door swung open and she heard Henley and Daniel come in arguing.

Alison practically jumped out of her skin, far away from Jack, landing across the kitchen. She immediately began putting food away in the cabinets, busing herself with organizing things. In the meantime, Jack greeted his friends and tried not to think too hard about Alison's quick reaction.

"Hey Jack! I brought donuts," Henley was particularly peppy this morning. "Oh, hey Alison, I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"Shouldn't you be at work?" Daniel said from the living space as he was looking over something.

"I canceled my day. Too much to do here. Moving is tiresome." Alison didn't look back at them, for fear that her face was as flushed as it was hot right now.

"Well, I'll say! Look at you guys. Where did you get all this stuff? Must have cost a fortune…" Henley looked around the kitchen taking stock of everything they had compiled just this morning.

Jack cracked up laughing and Alison turned around, all red faced. "Well, it's all my stuff… Um, Jack convinced me that-"

Jack cut her off really quick, "Oh no! Not my idea. You're the one who wanted to go on an adventure." The two caught each other's eyes for the first time since the almost-kiss and laughed.

Henley raised her eye brows at the both of them. _An adventure, huh?_ "Ok, well, do you guys want donuts or not?"

"We've already eaten."

"We went out." The two accused spoke at the same time.

"Oh, really? Talk about an adventure, you two. Did you have a good time?" Jack answered for the both of them with a nod of the head under Henley's scrutinizing look. "Good. I, uh, I'm glad you two are getting along well." Henley shot them both a wink.

At this point Merritt had arrived on the scene and went straight for the donuts. "Wait, do you guys want some before I eat the rest of the box?"

"Don't worry about it, Merritt. They went out." Henley said to him with a smirk on her face. At this Merritt's eye brows shot up as he glanced at Jack, with a grin that made Jack blush again.

"Well, I certainly hope that young Jack treated you the way a lady should be, Miss Kelly." Merritt had taken up an uncomfortably close position next to Alison who had just finished putting food away.

Alison was at a loss for words for the first time in a while. "Yes. No, uh. Um, yeah. He was, I mean it was. *sigh* It was very nice." Merritt laughed at Alison's expense and clapped Jack on the back as he exited to the next room with Daniel and Henley. Alison on the other had was cherry red from her neck up.

Jack turned to say something to Alison, who was trying very hard to not look at him. He wasn't exactly sure what to say at this point, he couldn't think of much. "They're just teasing is all. Nothing to worry about it."

"No, I'm not worried about it." Alison said not looking at him again. She wasn't worried about what the others thought, she was worried about what he thought. Jack's name was called from the other room and he left and Alison watched him go with her mind reeling.

 _What the hell, Alison? What exactly am I doing to myself?_

 _I don't know. This is crazy I know, but it's not like I planned for it…_

 _I haven't been planning for very much lately, have I? I seriously need to focus._

 _On what, exactly? I'm out of a long term abusive relationship. I'm doing really well at work, surely I will be made partner soon. I'm not living in a motel anymore. What more could I want? What more do I need? What could I possibly need to focus on?_

"What the fuck do you mean, I'm not going?!" Jack's voice was loud and angry, shaking Alison out of her trance. She followed her impulsive urge to go to him in the next room, and just watched the scene unfold.

Daniel was just hanging out in front of the computer, looking like he had done nothing wrong. Henley was standing in between the two men on the defense, like she was ready to diffuse a bomb. Merritt was sitting straight up on the couch, where he was usually laying down, with a look of processing on his face. Jack was closest to Alison and the entrance to the room, looking offended, shocked, and ready to punch Daniel in the face.

"Look, don't get mad. You will meet us in Paris later. You will go, just not with us on Saturday."

"Why not? What happened that changed everything?"

"We might be there for upwards of a month and we don't need you there that long. We only really need you there as an extra set of hands, like a week at the most. It's more economically and logical to do it this way."

"Is that something you came up with? Or did you find it in the instructions?"

 _Instructions? What the hell?_ Alison was officially confused and decided it would be best to step out of the room and leave the magicians to talk with some privacy, but she wanted to know what was going on. Alison disappeared down the hall.

Daniel noticed this and was a silently grateful when he heard her door slam shut. "It's nothing personal, I promise. I'm just afraid we might need the extra money somewhere along the road. The instructions don't give us any room for error, so I'm trying to make it for us. You're better off here. Besides I thought you might like the extra alone time with our new tenant. I hear you two are getting along rather swimmingly. Now why don't you get to work rather than flirting in the kitchen?"

Alison heard the whole thing. She opened and closed her door for the sound of it, but didn't actually go inside. The whole conversation was just too tempting. She knew is wasn't right to eavesdrop, but she wanted to know what was going on. _Jack not going to Paris affects me too, right?_ With a creek, Daniel's chair swiveled around back toward his desk, signaling that the conversation was over. The damage was done.

"Well, what do you want me to start on, since I'm just an extra pair of hands." Jack was good at throwing everyone's words back at them, not just hers. But it didn't faze Daniel.

"Just go play with your Legos and make 3Ds of the blue prints, or something. I don't care what you do, just do something productive."

 _Ouch…._ Alison was back standing back in the hall way and wasn't sure what to do now. She wanted to punch Daniel for taking away something Jack was so excited for and insulting him like that, but she couldn't risk the consequences of being kicked out of a place she just moved in to. And at the same time, Alison didn't want to hang out here anymore. _To work then…_


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Ok, so I know that this is a short chapter, but I'm not sure where else to go with it. Hope this is ok. Thanks to all of the followers and readers out there. I'd appreciate some feedback, because I'm kinda stuck… xoxo, AlyNoel**

Alison very carefully and quietly got back into her room and changed back into her work attire. She also texted Melanie and asked her to salvage the rest of her day. It was only about 2 pm, so surely she would be able to have a few productive hours, even if she had to work late. When she reemerged she quickly left the apartment, ignoring all of the looks and questions she was receiving, even those from Jack. It was pretty obvious where she was going.

Alison felt bad about it, but what could she say? She didn't want to hang around in a negative atmosphere, especially when she felt like she contributed to it. Work would be better. People liked her there and they didn't make her feel all sorts of confusing feelings that she shouldn't be having.

For only being at work for half of a day, Alison felt productive enough. When she walked in and reported to Bob, one of her two bosses, he asked to speak with her right away. "Let me take this call, but its big news. Promise." He smiled genuinely at her and she felt good about it. If he was going to say what she thought he was going to say, this was big news she'd been working toward for quite some time.

She went to unpack her bags and return calls in her office. It was a nice space, though a little cramped. Shelves were filled to bursting with books and other legal texts, a tall filing cabinet loomed in the corner. There was a large desk and office chair for her toward the back wall and a couple of comfy chairs for others in the middle. There were very few personal items, some magnets on the filing cabinet and a picture of an older woman who looked a lot like her smiling next to an older man who didn't, sitting on her desk. It was a simple, typical lawyer set up, but it was clean, organized, and smelled like cinnamon rolls. Alison felt comfortable here.

Alison was able to get through three phone calls, before her Boss Bob came knocking at her door. He entered on his own accord and as she looked up he noticed she was smiling from ear to ear at her, showing off pearly whites. He was also holding a large stack of file folders, stuffed to the brim with paper. "Are you familiar with Tressler insurance?"

"Should I be?" Alison asked. This was not what she expected him to be telling her. He was supposed to be offering her a partnership and/or congratulating her on her years of hard work with this firm.

"Yes. If you aren't yet, become so quickly. I'm handing a very important client over to you, in hopes that if, no, _when_ you do well with this, you will be made partner. Arthur Tressler, founder and CEO of Tressler Insurance. British guy. Cool accent. Self-made billionaire. Deep pockets." Boss Man made himself at home in one of the two chairs facing her.

"Is he a billionaire because his insurance company ripped off innocent people that were counting on them? You know I don't like to deal with people like that." Alison reached for the files that Boss had placed on in front of her and began skimming through them.

"Alison, we're lawyers, not superheroes. He pays us, well, he'll pay you to help him. You don't need to worry about what you are helping him do."

"I'm going to interpret that response as a 'yes'." Alison looked up at Boss Man Bob, with obvious disinterest on her face. It was a fact of life; she didn't like to represent the bad guys. That's why she was a civil lawyer and not a criminal lawyer. Bob was a good guy, a reasonable guy. He knew her feelings about it.

"Alison, look, I get it. I know exactly what you are thinking. 'Why are you doing this to me, Boss Man Bob? It's not nice. Boss Man Randy wouldn't ask me to do this.' Well, Ali, let me tell you; every law suit has a bad guy and a good guy. Sometimes it hard to tell who is who. We want it to be easy, but sometimes…" Bob shrugged at her. "I know this guy comes off as a money grubber, and he totally is, I won't deny it, but his paying us and now his paying you, to watch his back. Do this for me, ok? Prove to me that you can play for the bad guy, for _any guy_ , despite how you might _feel_ about it, and you will be made partner. We are not hear to be people's moral guides. We just defend their decisions. You should've learned that at Columbia."

"Yeah, I was sick that day." Alison was otherwise quite, deep in thought. Suddenly there was another knock at her door. She looked up to see Boss Man Randy peeking in shyly, giving her a small smile. Randy was much less direct than Bob when it came to confrontation with people that he liked, which is why they had to share the business. "Sooo…. Did you ask her?"

"I asked. She's thinking. Very hard."

"C'mon Alison. This whole soft heartedness was a problem for me to. You gotta get over it. This will help. We're just trying to help you. Jiminy Cricket wasn't a lawyer." Randy wouldn't straight up ask her to turn back on her morals like Bob would. He knew her pain. But he did want her to be partner, more than Bob did, but not as much as she did.

"Do you want to be partner or not?"

"We're just trying to help you get there."

Alison thought some more. She wished for the millionth time in her life that morals and the law coincided more thoroughly. "I want to be partner."

"Good. Then it is settled." Bob got up from his seat to leave.

"Good choice, Ali," Randy said softly to her, and then louder for the rest of the office to hear. "It's about time we had a Boss _Lady_ around here."

"Damn right it is," Bob said loudly following Randy out.

"Damn right it is," Alison muttered to herself as she pulled the files closer to her. She hoped she wouldn't regret this… Putting her feelings aside couldn't be too hard, right?

On second thought, she pushed the files away from her, deciding that she would catch up with her work from today, before she opened these files again. Damn it all, she was supposed to be excited! She'd worked so hard for this! But this was just another hurtle for her to jump over, a very, very big hurtle. 'Proving herself' might take years with this client, but what the hell? She had several years invested here already.

"Oh. EM. Gee, Ali! Did I hear what I think I just heard?" It had only been a hot second since the Bosses left before Melanie came bursting in, her tiny frame overflowing with excitement.

"Yes, Mel, but they didn't mean it as an immediate thing. One final task." Alison was pretty stoic about it as she raised one of the many files for Arthur Tressler and his insurance company.

"Oh. Well, what the heck? That's not fair. What do they want you to do now?"

"Insurance company. That's all I can really say about it right now, Mel. I'm playing catch up from this morning."

"Ok, good. Here is an updated meeting schedule with the various clients that you had me cancel this morning. Wait, insurance? You _hate_ working for people who use other people. What are the Bosses thinking?

"They want to challenge me. To get me to prove that I can take cases, and win them with no feelings attached."

"Hmmm," Melanie thought for a second. "I guess it makes sense. You have a tendency to overthink big picture type of things and emotionally sympathize with people that your cases may effect, whether they are your immediate concern or not. Overall, too soft hearted to deal with bad guys."

"Thanks for the pep talk, Mel." Alison was typing away on her laptop, looking very concentrated.

"You're more than welcome. This will definitely be a challenge, but it will pay off for sure. Do you wanna do drinks tonight to celebrate? I know a place with a Thursday night ladies night."

"No thanks, hun. I have too much to worry about. We can celebrate when it is official, ok?"

"Well, do you wanna do drinks tonight just for the hell of it?"

Alison tossed her head back in laughter. "No, thank you though. Still too much to do."

"Is it about moving? How did that go?" Melanie made herself momentarily comfortable on the arm of a chair.

"It went..." Alison stopped typing and thought for a moment. "I'm not sure how I feel about my roommate." Alison faced Melanie, looking worried with her eyebrows knit together, like she was thinking hard

"Are they super weird? Or gross? Or what? Tell me everything." Melanie clasped her hands together in anticipation for the gossip.

"It sort of complicated to explain. There are 4 of them."

"Wait, you told me that it was a 2 bedroom place." Melanie rose a thick eyebrow at her friend/ coworker/ boss.

"It is. Only 2 of the guys stay there full time. Jack and Merritt. And then there's me."

"Ok, you've gone from living with one guy to living with two. Smart move… Sooooo what about the other two people?" Melanie was a very sarcastic character.

"Alright, you're going to think this sounds crazy, but here it is…" Alison told Melanie that she was living in the magicians headquarters, for lack of a better word, and that Daniel and Henley come and go as they please and she and Jack were the only ones who inhabited permanently as of right now, but Merritt would be moving back in soon. "They are all going to Paris, well except Jack, so I don't have to deal with them for a while."

"Poor thing. Why doesn't he get to go? Tell me about Jack. You don't sound too upset about living in the same space with him."

"To be totally honest, he is _such_ a cutie pie. He's been really helpful and friendly and I'm afraid that I like him much more than I should. I mean, I haven't even known him for a full 24 hours. We almost kissed earlier today, before everyone else showed up. It was so exciting. I about died of embarrassment." Alison spilled her guts and contradicted herself, as she usually did in these sorts of conversations.

"Ooo, Jackpot! Sounds juicy!" Melanie fell back into the chair with excitement.

"Mel! Seriously, I'm dying here. My life is shit right now. I don't need these extra feelings."

"Yeah ok, Miss- I- was- just- offered- a- promotion. Yeah, your life sucks." Melanie crossed her arms and layered it on thick.

"You know what I mean. My _love life_ is shit at the moment."

"So that's why you decided to come in today. Couldn't stand to be around the new bae with other people watching? And just as an FYI, your love life has been shit for a loooong time."

"He is definitely _not_ my bae. Do _not_ say that. And thanks for the update." Alison turned back to her computer screen to hopefully hide her…

"Omg, Alison, your face! Ha!" Alison was beyond embarrassed from talking about something so personal at work, so of course her face was turning red. She didn't need Melanie to point it out for her. Alison took up her email from where she left off, signaling that the conversation was over.

"Look, Ali, you're allowed to like other people. It's totally normal to have a crush on a cute guy, ok? Even if you did just meet him. That's something normal people do, have crushes. Just because you've never had one before…" Alison shot Mel a death glare. "… or haven't had one in a long time, doesn't mean that it isn't a normal adult thing to do. And to be totally honest, it's nice to see you all blushy and giggly and stuff again. It's a good sign, I promise."

"Thanks for the pep talk, Mel. Get back to work."

"Can do Boss Lady. You are more than welcome." Melanie left with a smile on her face and Alison got back to work.

Meanwhile, back at HQ, the Four Horsemen were working distractedly on independent projects. Each horseman was distracted for his own reason. Daniel was distracted by Henley's new perfume, which was very light and flowery. Henley was distracted by Merritt who had some bad gas, but apparently wasn't going to own up to it. Merritt was distracted by his bad gas and worrying whether or not any one was suspicious of him.

Finally, Jack was distracted by a variety of things. Not even a variety really because most of the questions running rampant in his head could be traced back to Alison. He figured that she had gone to work. Was it something important? With the way she rushed out it might have been. Was she just upset? Was it because of him? Or the scene in the kitchen? What all did she hear before she left? He knew that she was smart enough to listen in on them. Was it because of Daniel and the others? When would she be home so that they could talk about it? Did she even want to talk about it? Did he?

And on top of that, what was he going to say to her? 'Hey, sorry about trying to kissing you. My bad.' Or 'Sorry our kiss was interrupted, but I'd like to try it again sometime.' Or 'Yeah, you heard all of that correctly, but I can't elaborate because it would jeopardize our mission. Don't bother asking what the mission is because I can't tell you that either.' Or all of the above?

Jack sighed deeply for the umpteenth time this hour. Henley was keeping track. She wished that she could ask what was wrong, but she didn't want to risk the wrath of Daniel. You know what? She didn't care what Danny thought anyway….

"Hey Jack? You okay over there?" Henley called softly to him, the inflection in her voice expressing her concern.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking over some things." Jack didn't look at her when he answered.

"I thought I smelled smoke," Merritt chimed in with a laugh.

Henley moved over to sit near Jack and lowered her voice, "Is something bothering you? Do you want to talk about it?" Their mission was just becoming more serious. They had only known each other a few months, but Henley thought that they should still care and know about each other.

"It's just that… I mean…" Jack wasn't sure how to word it and he was pretty sure that the other two horsemen were listening. "Nothing. I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Is it…?" Henley whispered and gave him a look, nodding her head toward the front door. Jack thought Henley was just too smart sometimes.

Jack didn't say anything, but just nodded. He released another deep sigh.

"Oh, quit that! If that's really what you're worried about, then you're right, it'll be fine." Henley gave him a genuine smile and a pat on the shoulder.

"Whatever you say Henley," Jack mumbled to her.

"Ha! You're right again. It is whatever I say. I'm glad at least one of you sees it my way," Henley stated proudly as she crossed the room again to her computer screens and went back to work.

A few seconds later, Henley spoke up again. "Merritt, I'm waiting on you for those videos to send to Arthur Tressler."

"I don't see why I have to produce videos. I can give a video of my visit to my friend last night, I'm sure that will impress the old fart."

Jack and Henley both snorted in laughter. "What? What's so funny?" Merritt complained sarcastically.

"Look, if we are going to be asking this guy for money then we need to offer some proof that we are worth it. Even Jack had some cool stuff to submit, and he's never done a real show before."

"A video of last night has got to be worth something. Maybe not a small loan of 1 million dollars, but still something."

"At least tell me that your lady friend knew she was being taped."

"Oh, yeah. She's a great performer." Merritt told Jack with a wink.

"Ok, boys! Gross! Merritt! Video. Now. I want to send this email today. And I'm not asking for a million bucks, I'm just asking him to consider backing us financially. He can decided what we are worth. I told him we need a backing to be able to book shows in the big places that we want to be in and gave him an overview of what we have planned, without giving too much away of course. He would be making our dreams come true, blah, blah, blah. That sort of stuff."

"Henley, you're making us sound like kids with cancer and only a few months to live or something."

"Well, do you want to write then, Danny? Don't patronize me for doing my part."

"Here," Merritt produced a flash drive from out of nowhere. "All of my best stuff is on here. If he needs more than that, his people can Youtube me."

"Actually, I think I am going to print this and mail it with all of our signatures, then email it too. And I'll give him a call in about a week."

"Whatever you think you have to do to make him go through with it."


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed, and left me so many kind reviews. I truly appreciate all you have to say and it really makes my day! In light of the new movie and what Jack has to say about his love life, I'm not sure where I want this to go now. Should I keep with my original plan, or change it up to make room for Lula? Opinions would be much appreciated. Love y'all, xoxo ~AlyNoel**

Alison worked her butt off all afternoon and into the evening. Once she decided she was caught up, she cracked open Mr. Tressler's files. The more she read the more she realized this guy was kind of a big deal. He didn't just have an insurance company, but supported lots of others as well. There were case files for everything Bob and Randy ever did for him, which was helpful, so she could have some idea of what she was getting into.

She also realized that her assumption was right, Mr. Tressler did take advantage of people. As much as that burned her up, Alison's drive to become partner burned hotter and brighter.

After studying the files carefully and thoroughly for a few hours, Alison decided she should give him a call and introduce herself over the phone. This would seal the deal that she was, in fact, going to be his lawyer now. No turning back.

As she reached for the phone, Alison was suddenly self-conscious. What if he didn't want her to be his new lawyer? _Did Bob and Randy warn him at all? Maybe an email would be better... Maybe I should call Randy… He's gone home for the day, but he should answer for me._

As expected, Randy assured her that everything would be fine, so she was less worried, but he danced around whether or not he and Bob actually told Mr. Tressler about this change. _Great._

Alison decided an email would be better. _And I will call first thing in the morning._

She decided that she had worked long enough, considering it was half passed 8 and everyone else had gone home already. She probably should get going too.

She packed up everything and was locked up and out of the building in 15 minutes. On the elevator ride down, she checked her phone and saw a few texts and Facebook friend requests from Henley Reeves and Jack Wilder, which she immediately responded to. Alison took the subway to the closest stop and walked the rest of the way home, like an average New Yorker.

She silently wondered if every other New Yorker felt the same sense of dread and near hyperventilation when they passed a large, dark haired man that could've been their ex on the side walk.

When she arrived home, she passed Merritt, who was on his way out, leaving for his friends place. "Already?" Alison asked when she saw him.

"Duty calls, but you have fun with your boy toy up there." Alison's entire body warmed up and her face set aflame. _Why does he find me so easy to read? I'm a freaking lawyer!_

However, she always let her guard down on her way home as a way to relax and destress from the work day. Alison could maintain her poker face, but she couldn't help blushing. _Maybe, because it's dark, he won't see._

With the way Merritt was laughing, though, she knew that he knew he got under her skin.

Reaching the apartment, she let out a long sigh, the exhaustion that she didn't know was there, finally catching up to her. When she opened the door, the last thing she wanted to hear was Daniel's obnoxious voice blabbering on about whatever, she didn't really care. Alison half sighed half grunted loudly upon entry, making her presence known.

Alison disappeared immediately to her bed room, to unpack, change, and ultimately continue working. She had just begun to take her make up off, after putting on her jammies, when there was a knock at her door.

"Alison, we ordered pizza. Are you hungry?" Jack's strong, calm voiced reached her ears and, like magic, made all of her worries melt away.

She answered by opening the door and greeting him with a smile. "What kind of pizza?" The last thing she expected was dinner to be waiting for her.

"We have a couple pieces of pepperoni left." Jack whispered this line, because Alison had taken his breath away. She was in the same sleepwear that he had seen the night before, but her sparkling hazel eyes had an immobilizing effect on him.

"Yum," was all she said before she slid by him, following her nose, to the 3 last pieces of delicious pizza in the kitchen. She sat down on the couch with her plate to watch NCIS: New Orleans, the chosen background noise for the evening.

Jack joined her and was secretly amused by her appetite. Alison was a healthy sized girl, maybe a size 8 or 10 (Jack had no idea really), only about 5'5", with the build of a dancer. Not super thin like a ballerina dancer, but with strong legs, large, solid thighs, and a tight core. On second thought, Jack thought Alison's hips might be a little too wide to fit the dancer profile, even for a hip hop dancer. But either way, she was curvy in all the right places and had lots of natural sex appeal that she didn't show off or enhance at all. Jack didn't think she needed to.

She didn't enhance her natural beauty much either. Her make-up was light today as it was yesterday when they first met, the most prominent thing about it today was a thick coating of mascara that made her eyes pop. Jack really loved her eyes.

Alison caught him staring and offering him the last piece. "Still hungry?" she asked with her hand covering her mouth, which was full of pizza.

Jack shook his head, and apologized. Alison felt the need to as well, suddenly self-aware and self-conscious of her eating, not realizing he had been checking her out for a different reason. "Sorry, I just, like, wolfed that down. Kinda gross, but, uh, the last time I ate was breakfast with you."

"Don't worry about it. No biggie. I've noticed that you are pretty bad at remembering to feed yourself."

"I had a pretty busy afternoon. I asked Melanie to salvage what she could of my meetings from this morning, when we were playing hooky, and then my boss kinda dropped a bomb on me, which is why I was late this evening." Alison had turned to face him, cross legged style, moving her paper plate from the arm of the couch to her lap.

Jack did the same, feeling like they were little kids again. "A bomb?"

"He handed over to me a pretty big, important client of his. But I'm hoping that if I do really well with this guy for maybe the next year or so, they well let me buy in to become partner."

"You have to buy in to become partner?"

"Yes, it's standard for any business." Alison hoped that he would change the subject. She wouldn't be able to relax if they kept talking about work.

"Is that really what you want to do with all of your hard earned money? Give it back to the guys who pay you, so that you have to work harder?"

"But then I get to be a boss, and there are perks to being a boss, you know, besides a bigger pay out. I would get _all_ the vacation time I want, and could take the time and the money and do things that I really want to do, like travel. Not that I don't like my job, but I get to be more picky about what I do with my time and who I represent." Alison said all of these things between bites of her last slice of pizza.

"I see. So where would you like to go first, Miss Boss Lady?" Jack leaned back on his arms, resting them on the arms of the couch. Alison eyes traveled and she noticed that he didn't change his clothes from today, just took off his jacket and _wow, that shirt looks good on him…_

"Germany," Alison said quickly, looking back up at his face. "That's where my mom is from, and I have some close family there. We used to go once a year, but then I started my higher education and later my dad retired, so we don't get to go as often. My mom says it doesn't bother her, but I know that it does sometimes, especially around the holidays. "

"That sounds really cool. I mean going to Germany, not about your mom being sad," Jack smiled genuinely. Alison chuckled and took a moment to appreciate it.

"Yeah, I bought us a trip maybe 2 years ago. Thomas was bored the whole time, which pissed me off. I guess he was mad that I spent the money without telling him, but it was my money, you know? I don't know. It was a little rude on my part, but it was supposed to be a surprise and at least he could've pretended to enjoy it."

"Definitely. Germany seems like a big part of who you are, so he should've, at the very least, been attentive and aware." Henley spoke up this time. Jack wouldn't have been able to come up with a response like that.

"Thank you." Alison said firmly. "I thought so too, but you know, that's all over. I was thinking about you at work today actually, Henley. Do you want to go get your nails done with me after work tomorrow? It'll be nice to have a mani-pedi done before your trip, yeah?" They were friends on Facebook, so they should probably be friends in real life.

"That sounds really nice. What's tomorrow? Friday? Yeah, that'll be great. Thanks so much," Henley was as warm as Jack was, smiling broadly in appreciation. She was grabbing her bag and her coffee cup from this morning and on her way out the door. "Danny, how much longer are you going to be?" She said adjusting her jacket.

"None. I was waiting on you." With that, and few more goodbyes, Jack and Alison where left alone.

"So what about you?" Alison said to break the heavy silence.

Jack raised a questioning eyebrow at her. "No, I don't want to get a mani-pedi with you." Alison tossed her head back in laughter, filling the quite space that was just vacated.

"Buuuut whhyyyyyyy?" Alison began to fake a whine, put on a pouty face, and flailed around like a toddler. "It'll beee an aaadveeenntuuuure."

Jack howled with laughter. "Nail care isn't my thing." Jack dodged her limbs as best he could, but when she was finished her legs were spread across his.

"Fine, I'll just ask my dad to go with me." Alison huffed at him, tossing her hair out of her face in a way that Jack found incredibly cute.

"Your dad gets mani-pedi's with you? Do your folks live around here?" Jack chuckled. He thought she was making another joke.

"No and no. But we do get pedicures together when we visit. My dad and I are marathoners. He feels it is important to take care of his feet. 'It's not weird. Everyone has feet,' he always says that. What I originally meant was, where would you travel to if you could go anywhere?"

"Oh, ok. Umm…. I've never thought about it really. I think I mentioned this before, but I don't travel much; I've never been outside the state of New York. I've never had the opportunity. Anywhere would be great for me; just the experience of going, no matter where I went."

"That makes sense." They were both quite again, for a long while. Neither party wanted to be caught staring, so they looked at every single thing in the room besides each other.

"Show me a magic trick."

"So you're a marathon runner?"

They both spoke at the same moment and laughed in the next. _The way we fit each other is just amazing…_

Jack was the first to recover from this magical moment. "I guess I could show you a few things."

Alison had no words, just a light hearted, excited chirping sound followed by giggling. She jumped out of her seat taking her paper plate and pizza crust to the trash can. On her way back to the couch she said, "You know, I just realized that I didn't even ask how your day was. Did you get along any better?"

Jack was lounging with his legs up on the couch shuffling cards, when he looked up at her and shrugged, "Just business as usual."

Alison thought he was purposely being illusive, but she let it slide as her excitement for his mini magic show increased.

"Ok. Ok. Ok. Ok. I'm ready!" Alison bounced back over to her seat and sat facing Jack, just as before. "Impress me," she said in a falsely, stuck up manner.

Jack laughed and rolled his eyes at her. "Ok, so this one is pretty simple. I'm going to have you pick a card and memorize it. Put it back in the deck and don't let me see it. I'm going to do some really cool shuffling to distract you and Ta-da! Is this your card?"

Alison nodded her head with glee.

"Next up, there are 2 jacks and 1 queen. All you have to do is follow the queen." Jack was smooth as he worked with the cards. Alison could tell that a lot of practice went into this.

Alison was flabbergasted by the fact that she was fooled by this trick 3 times in a row. "Now wait! I am 100% sure that I saw it this time. How did you do that?"

"Ok, ok, moving on. So I'm going to guess which card you are thinking of. Flip through these few that I picked, but didn't look at, and memorize one you like. Concentrate really hard on it. Here, you can put them all back now. 2 of diamonds?"

"Yes! How did you know?"

"Magic. For my final trick, I need one more thing." Jack disappeared from his seat in a puff of smoke and Alison screamed. He reappeared with more smoke involved in the kitchen and grabbed a spoon.

"Hahahaha! Don't be so loud, people are asleep. So, an ordinary spoon right. One of the nice silver ones we brought home today. Now watch carefully as I bend this spoon with my mind." Jack waved his hand and put on a face of false concentration as his eye did not waver from the spoon. And it was so. The spoon bent before her eyes.

"Hey! That was a nice spoon!" Jack laughed at her response.

"So, impressed?"

"I am, yeah, and also very tired. I have a big day tomorrow. Remind me to call Tressler first thing in the morning."

 _Tressler? Not our same target Tressler, right? How many big, important Tresslers can there be?_ Jack thoughts flashed across his mind as fast as lightening in the sky. He hoped that his facial expressions didn't reveal any inner turmoil, but Alison was getting up and moving toward the hall way. Her eyes were still on Jack, expecting him to disappear again. And he did. Alison didn't scream this time, and wasn't even shocked when he reappeared inches in front of her.

"Good night," Jack whispered softly in her ear. His hot breath on her ear made Alison visibly shiver and she turned her head away from him, but that only gave him more access to her neck, a golden opportunity that Jack reluctantly didn't take.

"I'll, uh, see you in the morning, yeah?" Alison's head was down, her chin to her chest, trying to hide from him, but Jack knew she would be cherry red.

Jack took her chin and lifted her face so he could lock eyes with her. As he did this, Alison's breath hitched in her throat, which she prayed Jack didn't hear, but at this proximity, what's the use?

When their eyes met Jack smiled softly, sweetly. _I could look into these eyes every night until the end of time…._

But neither of them would ever say that out loud, even if they were both thinking it. "See you in the morning," Jack said as he let his hand fall from her.

Alison slowly retreated down the hall way in a deep trance, with her wide doe eyes still fixed on his. She looked beautiful in a confused way. Not that she was confused by what had happened, but by pressing emotions that she wasn't sure whether to act on or not. She smiled at him shyly one more, two more times, before disappearing into her room.

Jack whirled around and made a mad dash for his phone. He flipped through his messages looking for Henley's name. She would be reasonable about this.

J: _Are you up? It's important. I need your opinion._

H: _Yes, Jack, always use a condom._

J: _What? Uhg! No, I know_ that _. Do you remember Alison talking about a super important client that she was given today?_

H: _Yeah, sure. What about it?_

J: _She told me the name was Tressler, like the same guy we are after._

H: _When did she say this?_

J: _Just a minute ago, as we were saying goodnight._

H: _Well, idk many Tressler's in the phone book. You think it's the same guy?_

J: _Yeah, that's why I am worried. What's going to happen to Alison when we ultimately screw over Tressler?_

H: _Not our problem. She shouldn't be affected._

Jack was incredibly frustrated with this answer. Yes, she would be affected, he wanted to tell her. Alison has goals and dreams that could be ruined because of this.

J: _Ok, fine, if that's what you think. Just don't tell the others. I don't want them to take advantage of the situation._

H: _What situation?_

J: _TY_

H: _So you guys were saying goodnight? ;)_

Jack ignored this message and laid in bed, thinking about all of the things that might unfold. Some of them would never happen and some were very possible and Jack cared just enough to be worried.

About Alison or for Alison, he wasn't really sure yet.


	7. Chapter 7

It was very late before Jack finally fell asleep, his brain running rampant for no good reason. The sun came up too early, in his opinion. It was almost 8 when he heard the shower running. Alison had given up on waiting for him.

Jack had a quick thought, jumped out of bed, pulled on some pants, grabbed his wallet, and dashed out the door. By the time Alison was out of the shower and partially dressed for the day, with her hair dried and styled, Jack was back with a box of donuts in hand and fresh cups of coffee for them both.

Alison smiled ear to ear, when she stepped into the kitchen, "Wow, I haven't woken up to something this great in a while." She had no make-up on and was simply wearing a white camisole tucked into suit pants, but Jack was still stunned.

Alison strode over and took her place next to Jack, finding her coffee waiting next to his, prepared just the way she likes it. "Good donuts, great coffee, and a handsome man, what more could a girl ask for?" Alison beamed up at him with a casual hair flip, moving it all over to one side, before turning her attention to the breakfast in front of her. When she sets Jack up for things like this, how could he not take the opportunity?

"Good morning, beautiful," Jack whispered into her exposed ear, half still exhausted and half completely enamored by her. "Sleep well?" He casually reached around her and placed his hand on the counter, not touching her just yet, but blocking her in close to him.

Alison smiled softly up at him the way she used to smile at Thomas, when they first started living together, before she had begun to believe her fairy tale had come true. As she reached for a glazed donut, she spoke; it came out in a whisper as well. "Yes, very. And you?"

At this point Jack had to stifle a yawn. "Feels like I'm gonna need another cup."

"Aw, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have gotten up. Was I too loud?" Alison was very concerned. She hated unscheduled wake ups and tried to be mindful that others might share the same opinion.

"No, no, I wanted to see you. I told you that I would see you in the morning." Jack tried to be smooth about it, but even in his head it sounded awkward.

"That's sweet, but you should go back to bed. I'll be quieter doing my make up." Alison made the first move, reaching out to caress his cheek as she spoke, but in the next moment was moving away from him, headed back down the hall way wondering what had gotten into her this morning.

Jack was trying to think of a way to get more information about Alison's new client. He stood sipping his coffee, leaning on his arms against the counter. He knew that there was such thing as attorney-client privilege, but he wasn't sure if that applied to basic information, like whether or not she was working for the same insurance mogul that they were going to be stealing from in less than a year.

Sometime later Alison immerged fully prepared to start her day and Jack hadn't moved much.

Alison planned to make her way to the door without much more conversation, considering she felt that she had messed up once already today, but Jack's voice stopped her. "Remember to call your new guy, Tressler, was that it? First thing this morning." Jack smiled from over his coffee cup with chocolatey eyes that wished her a good day, as he took another sip.

"Thanks. I wasn't sure either of us would remember." Alison laughed lightly, trying to look busy or in a hurry as to avoid embarrassing herself again.

"Have a magical day. I will see you later and you can fill me in on all of the details of your new, big, important client."

Alison beamed at him with shining eyes. "I like that saying, but how can I have a magical day when most of it will be spent without my personal magician? You might not see me later anyway. Henley and I are going to get mani-pedis right after work, so don't wait up."

 _Crap, I forgot about that._ "No worries," Jack said coolly, setting down his cup and quickly crossed the room to her.

"You know I will. I'll want to see you." He spoke these lines clearly, the whispering over. Jack was making a blatant claim to his feelings, it wasn't a secret anymore. This was as close to "I'll miss you" as he was going to get away with for right now.

He spoke as if he had practiced for hours, just to make Alison weak in the knees. And weak she was; in the knees and in the heart, which felt like it might stop at any minute. It was Jack's turn to touch Alison's face, gently lifting her chin, as he had done once before, as if they had done so their whole lives.

Chocolate eyes met kaleidoscope ones for a breathless second or two. Alison smiled softly and blushed, but she couldn't enjoy the moment for much longer. In fact, she was looking for a way out and away from those eyes. With coffee breath mingling together, she didn't think that this would be the best first kiss situation, but that's all she really could think about with him looking at her like that, going from her eyes to her lips and back again.

And maybe she was doing it too, but she wouldn't admit it to herself.

She was released a moment before it could be considered awkward, when Jack realized that he might be making her uncomfortable, and incidentally late for work. As badly as Jack wanted to kiss her for the last few days, he didn't want to make her unhappy by doing so.

They said goodbye for the day. Jack was left thinking of other ways to get information and Alison took her time on the way to the subway to calm her rapidly beating heart.

Alison expected to have a normal day at work despite the fact that she may or may not have complications with Tressler. As she made her way to work, she rehearsed what she would say, and as soon has she reached her desk she picked up the phone.

It only rang twice. There was a British voice on the other side of the line, "You've reached Arthur Tressler's private line. This is Jasmine speaking. How may I help you?"

"Hi, Jasmine. My name is Alison Kelley with The Lanier Law Firm in New York. I was hoping to introduce myself to Mr. Tressler, as I will be representing him from now on."

"Miss Kelley, yes, I got your email last evening, and have yet to inform Mr. Tressler of this change. May I give you a ring in about an hour? Mr. Tressler is in a meeting."

"That sounds fine. Thank you very much. Goodbye." The call was ended immediately. Alison wasn't sure if it was her or Jasmine.

She put the phone down and pressed a button on the receiver. "Melanie, please block off the first 30 minutes of my 10 o'clock hour. I'll be on a call with Arthur Tressler."

The next thing on her plate was a crying wife worried about losing custody of her kids to her soon to be ex. Alison had exactly 57 minutes to sort this out with the other guy and his cheap lawyer.

She walked out of the conference room with a happy ex-wife and a pissed off ex-husband. Another satisfied client, and with 3 minutes to spare to look over her list of other commitments for today. Alison silently hoped that British people were punctual, or that at least this British person was.

There was a buzz on her intercom, Melanie telling her she had Tressler on line four. Jasmine must have called the main number, rather than her extension.

"Hello, Mr. Tressler?"

"Miss Kelley, hullo. Let's do this properly. When is your lunch hour?" And just like that she was scheduled to meet Arthur Tressler for lunch at some fancy place that she had never been.

 _He didn't seem angry, or even a little disappointed…_ Alison was pleasantly surprised by this. _We will see if this gets better or worse_.

Jack spent his day doing what he does best: card tricks. He also hustled a couple of guys around the corner out of 60 bucks, but that was nothing to write home about. He had to make up for the money he spent on brunch at the Ritz the other day.

Around lunch time Jack remembered that he needed confirmation on whether or not Alison is working for the guy that (a) they are trying to solicit money from and (b) that they are going to ruin in the end. He also remembered that Alison is bad at feeding herself, especially once she gets busy.

 _So much for making back the money I spent on brunch…_ Jack went to his favorite Italian place and picked up some quick take out that he thought she would enjoy and headed to Alison's office building and up to the 3rd floor. Being friends on Facebook has its perks.

When Jack walked in, he first encountered the reception desk, which had Melanie and another assistant sitting at it. When Mel looked up, she knew immediately who it was. _The new cutie Ali has eyes for… and it looks like he has a surprise for her…_

Melanie suddenly had a wicked idea. _Let's make this more interesting._

She couldn't help checking Jack out as she pretended to phone Alison, but was otherwise very cordial. 'Alison' asked to for her guest to be sent back to her office. "She will be with you in just one moment, if you will please wait in her office," Mel said and Jack began walking in the direction that she had pointed for him.

Jack was relieved that Alison wasn't there. He was able to snoop around without getting caught. With Alison's tidiness, he should be able to find exactly what he needed without too much effort. He went looking through files, both on her desk and in the cabinets behind it, but didn't see anything with Tressler's name on it.

He grew frustrated, but at the same time was relieved for Alison's sake. _Maybe it's not the same guy…. She has nothing on him, it's not the same guy… Everything will be fine._

With his new wave of relief, Jack began unpacking the food he brought for lunch. He would just wait, chat her up over Italian, and make 200% certain that they were not dealing with the same Arthur Tressler.

When Alison climbed into Mr. Tressler's limo to head back to the office, she was really excited that she had done something right and Mr. Tressler seemed to be taking well to her. She obviously brought his past case files and her portfolio, aiming to impress, when she started out on this intimidating endeavor and it seemed like she did. But who knows? _I'm sure he sees tons of impressive portfolios every day._

He said "my girl," quite a bit throughout lunch and in the limo ride back to the building, so she wasn't sure if he really took her seriously yet. _Maybe that is something he says to everyone._

Just the fact the he had agreed to meet with her; he didn't turn her away, so that's all Alison could really hope for in the first place _, but for it to have gone this well? Wow._

When Alison climbed the stairs, she did a little happy dance for herself and promised herself a glass of wine or a martini later. Relief swept through her from her head to her feet and back up again. Soon all of her dreams would come true.

When she reached reception Mel called out to her in a loud whisper, "There's a surprise with a cute butt waiting in your office for you."

Alison just laughed awkwardly and walked on by, not think much of it. When stepped into her office, her nose and eyes were assaulted with the smell of pasta and cuteness. "Oh, wow! What a surprise, Jack."

Alison was genuinely surprised, not having expected this at all. Jack crossed the room to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, grinning like a fool. "I hope you like Italian."

"I do. Thank you so much, but I've already eaten. I was just at lunch meeting with Arthur Tressler. He seemed so nice. Oh, thank you."

Jack listened and took her jacket, hanging it up for her, as she sat down in one of the big comfy chairs next to him.

"This looks good," she said she reached for the garlic bread.

"Tell me all about it," Jack said, propping his chin up on his hand. He stared… almost lovingly, like she was the most beautiful woman in the world, as Alison took a bite out of the bread. It was slightly confusing to her, but she couldn't question it now.

"Well, he's British so he's got the coolest accent, you know. And he seems alright for a guy that cheats people out of their money." Alison rummaged in her brief case for her files on him and showed Jack the picture of Tressler, a sly looking, gray haired man, in an expensive suit. She had it paper clipped to the outside of one of his files like the police do with wanted men and common criminals

"You don't sound like you like him very much," Jack said, as he reached out for the file. His fingers brushed it as Alison pulled it away.

"No, sir. I like him as a person well enough so far, but I can't say that I agree with how he became a billionaire." Alison tucked her file away in her desk and Jack tucked a hand into his pocket.

"This really is a surprise. What's the occasion?"

"Well, I didn't know if I was going to see you later, and I just couldn't wait. The apartment is so empty without you."

Alison could only blush. "Honestly, you are too sweet." Jack took her hand and played with it a little. Alison stared at their hands intertwined because she couldn't take his stare.

"Well," Alison said, realizing the intimacy of their silence, "thank you for the food, but I've already had lunch."

She released his hand a stood up, making Jack frown. "Yeah, you mentioned that."

"I have a plethora of tasks to accomplish before mani-pedi's with Henley." Alison kept her back turned to him, leaning over her desk the wrong way.

She was embarrassed. How could she let herself be so infatuated with a man she just met? _This isn't a Disney movie._

Jack wasn't. He liked her a lot and didn't really care about the consequences. _What consequences, really?_

"I'll see you later, for sure. We can finish this then." Jack took a few steps toward her, wanting, wishing, for her to turn around, and, if he was lucky, hug him goodbye.

She didn't. She did turn around though. "Ok, that'll be nice. I'll see you then." Alison smiled and stepped up to help him pack up the food, but didn't make much eye contact.

They said awkward goodbyes yet again, before Jack finally left. He left wondering what he was doing wrong and Alison watched him go wondering what she was thinking in the first place…. But at least she was able to get back to work sans distraction.

Jack was entertained in the elevator and for hours back at the apartment with the photo of Alison's newest client, and how in the hell they were going to pull this off now. Without ruining Alison's career or getting caught by her, that is.

She was too smart for them. No one could've foreseen this, whatever this is, not even their recruiters….. right? Was this planned for? Or was this far too small of an obstacle to be worried about? Either way, Jack was worried. Ruining Alison's life was _definitely_ not going to make her trust him.


	8. Chapter 8

Several hours later, at the end of the usual work day, Alison received a Facebook message from Henley with just her phone number. She texted the number, asking which nail salon she'd prefer.

They met just a few blocks from the apartment and were seated in chairs almost immediately. "I know a few of the ladies here." Henley admitted.

"That's perfect. You wouldn't think that my feet would get so sore, since I sit for a large portion on the day, but honestly," Alison removed her heels and fiddled with the remote to her massage chair

"When's the last time you had a girl's night, anyway?" Henley asked.

"Oh, Heaven's, forever and a day. I guess, the last time I went out with my sorority sisters. Definitely been a while. What about you?"

"Every time I have a big show, I get the works, but that has been a while, what with joining up with the guys and doing all of this planning."

"I won't ask too much, but I am sure it is going to be amazing. If you all are as talented as Jack…"

"Oh, so he has been impressing you with his card tricks, huh?" Henley laughed, thinking if that was enough to impress Alison, she really was in for a big surprise.

"Jack is really sweet…" Alison left it short.

"Are you going to enjoy having him for yourself for a few weeks?" Henley shot her a knowing look and Alison laughed awkwardly.

"I don't know what you're…" Alison's pitiful defense was interrupted, which surprised her none the less.

"Oh, puh- leaz! You have been flirting nonstop since the moment you met. I've never seen a lady swoop in that fast." Alison was quite for a long time. She obeyed the gestures of the woman cleaning her feet, while she thought deeply.

 _If you have been interrupted, you have already lost the argument…._ The voice of an old law professor reminded her. _No point in denying it then…._

"That's true. The flirting, yes, I'll take that. But 'swopping in', as you called it, certainly wasn't my intention. I just got out of a really long, really shitty relationship, the last thing I need is to walk into another one."

"You're right. You don't need another relationship, but maybe a good lay wouldn't kill you." Henley laughed, trying to keep the mood as light as possible.

Alison laughed dryly. She still had a far-a-way, painful look in her eyes. "I've never been one to hit it and quit it…. You think that is all it'll take? Just one good lay?"

"Oh, I don't really know. Look at me, all pining over Danny, unable to even get out and enjoy that much. If I can't even take my own advice, maybe it's just shit advice." Henley admitted.

Alison laughed, "Really? Danny? He's such a dick! Henley, honey, you can do so much better."

"Yeah…. I know. But… uhg! He's just…"

"A total hunk? Absolutely dreamy? Completely irresistible?" Alison finished

"Yes, exactly!" Henley squealed and giggled, as did Alison.

"That's exactly what it feels like with Jack! What is it about magicians?"

"It's the air of mystery." Alison nodded in confirmation.

"It must be 'cause we're both stuck."

"I'm hoping one day I'll grow out of it, you know, meet and run away with someone better than Danny, but what are the odds of that?"

"Tell me about it." Alison punctuated this with an eye roll. "That's the exact train of thought that kept me with Thomas. I thought I'd never meet anyone better and then he turned into a complete asshole. Bastard lowered his own bar."

"Danny seems to lower the bar every day. Makes it look easy!"

"And it's not like I ever ask for a whole lot, you know. Tell me I look nice and have a meal with me once and a while."

"Right? If I asked for anything less than that, I'd have my own damn issues, you know." They both laughed until tears welled up.

Their girl bonding was quite successful, and Henley promised to remember Alison in Paris if she ever found herself with some free time.

Jack was delighted to see Alison back.

"Where's Henley?" Jack's voice was even more low and sexy than Alison remembered from lunch time.

 _How pathetic, am I?_ "She took the cab back to her place, to rest up for their flight in the morning." Alison took off her jacket and set down her bag near the door.

"Did you have a nice time doing… whatever it is… that you ladies do?" Jack was at a loss for words. He'd honestly forgotten what they had been up to, he just knew that it had been way too long since he'd seen Alison.

Jack didn't move from the couch so Alison went to him, taking a standing position near the arm rest he was casually leaning on. She laughed at him, "Yeah, we had a pretty great time. I wanted to go grab drinks or something, but the last thing Henley needs is a hangover for the flight in the morning."

"Do you want a drink? Did I mention that I am the world's best bartender? I have the shirt to prove it." Jack jumped up from the couch with a stunning smile on his face.

Alison laughed, she had honestly forgotten that he used to bar tend.

"Or we can go out for drinks… dancing maybe? I bet you're a great dancer." Jack smiled at his brilliant plan, took Alison's hand and spun her around.

"Oh no! I am a horrible dancer, I hate dancing in public." She complied with him, but her face turned bright red.

"Really? Wow. I wouldn't have guessed." Jack moved to the kitchen and started going through cabinets. "So how many drinks does it take to get you to dance? Any idea?"

"Oh, you'd like to know, huh?" Alison laughed at him. "Seriously, we don't have to do that. It's fine.

"Seriously, let's make drinks. It'll be fun. I'm going to make you something to drink." Jack was busy doing something Alison couldn't being to define.

"Alright, you do that then." Alison disappeared down the hall, probably to change, Jack guessed. While she was away he went back to the computer and plugged in his phone to the speakers and pulled up a party playlist from YouTube.

When Alison reentered the room, dressed in a fresh tank top and some shorts, "Party Rock Anthem" was playing and Jack was shuffling around the kitchen with a shaker in his hand.

"Uhg, I hate this song."

"So do I, but it's so fun to dance to," Jack laughed.

"So this is a warm up…" Alison tried to do the shuffling move with her feet, when she thought Jack wasn't looking.

Jack whipped around in his dance move and found a tall glass for Alison's margarita. "Do you like salt? Hey, that's not bad!"

"Oh no, I've been caught!" Alison dramatically fell onto the couch. "And, yes, salt please."

Jack presented her with a very non-traditional looking margarita, not having any margarita glasses, and she thanked him.

"Mmm, where is your drink, sir?" She asked after a sip.

"Oh, I don't need alcohol to dance. This isn't about drinks, it never was. It's about dancing." Jack said firmly, his sights now set for an entirely different mission.

Alison laughed, "Oh, no. Not fair! So not fair! This is super good, by the way." Alison had a second and third swig throughout the length of this sentence. "I do dance, just not in an empty apartment. If you want to see me dance, your best bet is at a dark and crowded club."

"But, then I won't really _see_ you because it'll be dark and crowded."

"I'm just not comfortable with bumping and grinding out in the open like this."

"Why does it have to be a bump and grind? Dirty mind." Jack looked at her quizzically.

"Isn't the bump and grind all people really do these days, anyway?" Alison asked, truthfully.

"Just dance! Move the way the music tells you to." Jack jumped up and swayed his body, arms in the air, in a very dorky fashion.

"That's super cheesy." Alison laughed at him. No way was she going to dance like a goofball in front of her newest crush….

Jack could see that she was going to be stubborn. He took her cup from her, enjoyed a sip, took her hands, and attempted to pull her up from the couch. The struggle was real.

"Noooooo," Alison whined. She resisted his encouragements for a minute, before giving in ever so slightly. "Let me have my drink back," she stood up and snatched it off of the coffee table, raising it to her lips.

"A small win! At least, you're on your feet." Jack danced some more, completely devoid of any embarrassment.

Alison swayed with the beat of the new song, holding close her glass, as to protect it from being taken again.

Jack was just steps from her doing the dougie, looking like he was having a lot of fun. Alison sat her glass down and attempted to inmate his moves. "How do you do that?"

"You're doing it! There is supposed to be a slightly different way for girls to do it, but I don't know it." Jack threw in a move of his own, surprising Alison. "Just do it however you want to. That's the best part of dancing!"

They both laughed and Alison was glad she couldn't see herself right now. _I probably look ridiculous…_

"Are these the only words in the whole song? I like dancing like this, where it's more or less choreographed. I don't know how to be spontaneous," Alison said.

"Having a dance party is spontaneous all by itself," Jack said.

"Probably the most spontaneous thing I've ever done!"

"Now that's just sad." The song was changing. Jack took Alison's hand and spun her around to "I took a Pill in Ibiza."

"We Can't Stop" came on next. "Omg, I love this song. This is the song the girls and I get down too!" Alison sang all the words and danced a little more freely, but was very aware that she was being watched.

Jack laughed, "Seriously?!" He was trying not to stare, but she was beautiful and captivating and mesmerizing and all of the other things that made it impossible for him not to.

Alison got schooled on moves like the Jerk and Bop for a few songs, while Jack was taught how to twerk during "Anaconda".

"You've definitely got the butt for it." They laughed and danced and danced and laughed. By the time "Glad You Came" was on Alison had her hands in the air and was dancing like no one was watching. Jack counted this mission as a complete success.

He was almost afraid to interrupt her, to ask if she wanted a second drink. Alison said no, but took his hands and made him dance around crazy with her.

"Good Feeling" came on next and they were suddenly they were the only two people in the universe. Jack was surprised that she knew the rap part to this song, but Alison admitted that Flo Rida was a little bit of her guilty pleasure.

"You're a really good singer too. What else don't I know about you?"

"Well, anyone can sing, can't they? I was in the choir in high school and for a few semesters in college, but I'm nothing special."

Jack paused and took on a very serious look that intimidated Alison. She stopped dancing too, captivated by him.

She kept his stare for a minute until he started talking. "You are incredibly special, honestly, the most talented person I've ever met." He spoke low, but in there close proximity, and with the switching of the songs, he didn't have to speak to loud to know that Alison could hear him.

Rihanna came through the speakers, singing about diamonds, before Alison answered. She looked up from her fixed stare at their bare feet, with a blush crawling across her cheeks, "T-that's not true… I mean…You must not have met very many people. I'm just… me." She smiled and tried to laugh.

"I think just you, is pretty damn perfect." His gaze was so overpowering. She got lost trying to read his eyes, searching for his intention, and lost track of her own along the way.

 _Please believe me…_ Jack stepped closer, brushing the hair out of her face with one hand, as the other trailed lightly down her arm.

 _Please don't be lying…_ Alison wasn't looking in his eyes anymore, but at his lips.

Jason Derulo's "Trumpets" began as their lips met in an electrifying kiss.

Their kiss was truly magical. Alison was afraid that she was too out of practice and that it wouldn't be good, but Jack was good to her.

It was slow and meaningful, with all of their emotions blooming and then blending together. Jack's hands moved to caress her waist and cheek, gently pulling Alison flush against him, as Alison wrapped her arms around his neck.

There wasn't much running through either of their minds, just the typical, run of the mill, very dangerous, lovey dovey stuff.

 _This is the most amazing thing ever…_

 _I couldn't be happier right now…_


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: PLEASE READ! Or don't. That's ok too.**

 **I did a mass update this weekend, because I had the extra time to go through and prefect everything. I updated everything and am presenting y'all with this new chapter. I'm not going to lie and say that I have been so incredibly busy that I haven't had the time to touch this story in so long. Looking back on it, I've had the time. I've been struggling on and off with depression for years, and I've just been hit so hard for this past year. Even over the summer things didn't get any better for a whole different set of circumstances. Some of you will understand and some of you won't. That's fine. But this chapter is dedicated to everyone out there who has/does experience depression in any way.**

 _ **You are not alone. Not in real life, and not in fiction either.**_

Jack released Alison, but he was still caught under her spell. Their foreheads met and their noses brushed as their breath lingered.

Alison blushed under Jack's intense stare and crooked smile, not really knowing what to do next.

"Wow." This only caused Alison to blush even more, to giggle and turn her head. Jack thought in this moment that she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

There was an ad playing through the speakers, which made everything even more romantic before "Cake" came on. Alison liked this song, but in context it made her nervous. She liked Jack a lot, but wasn't drunk enough to sleep with him, especially considering her recent past.

Jack watched the gears turn in her eyes as thoughts formed in her head and her emotions went from elated and blissful to worried, cautious, and almost fearful. He took a step back and brought her hand to his lips, gently kissing the back of it as his eyebrows knit together in concern for her. She smiled shyly at him and moved to the music, rocking slowly side to side.

Both of them were thinking the same thing.

 _What am I supposed to do?_

 _What does he expect from me?_

 _What is she thinking?_

Alison wrapped her arms around his neck and kept swaying. Her dancing didn't fit the music playing though the speakers, but itwas perfect for the music playing in her head. Jack's arms folded themselves around her waist as he followed her lead. Their foreheads were touching again and it wasn't long before their lips met again as well. It was faster, more urgent, and much longer, but was much too soon when Alison detached herself. Her lips were just as soft as Jack thought they would be. The way they kissed was overwhelming, especially to Alison.

"Dizzy," she mumbled against his lips.

"Hot," he said stupidly. _Shit, I sound like a fuckboy._ "Uh, I mean, you know, I, I'm getting warm, not that the kiss, well, kissing you is hot too, but just that's not really…"

Silence was won as Alison pressed her lips back to his briefly. "I know what you mean… I think—I think I need another drink," she said. She didn't need another drink, she knew she shouldn't have another, but she needed her personal space for just a second to regain her judgment.

"Really?" Jack didn't let go of her hand, already knowing the answer.

"No, not really."

Jack read her so effortlessly, as if he'd always known her. Alison couldn't lie to him, no matter how hard she tried. Jack took the hint and took a step back allowing his arms to fall to his sides.

"I really like you, even though maybe I shouldn't," Alison said way too honestly. _If I didn't have that last drink, I could've lied_.

"Why shouldn't you?" Jack asked honestly and then immediately regretted it when a pained look came to her face. "Your ex…"

"Thomas…" The spoke at the same time and Alison giggled a little. It always gave her goosebumps. _We're always doing that…_

"Do you still love him?" Jack asked very definitively. His voice was as clear and unwavering as his eyes were, despite that it was his one of his biggest fears.

No! Not at all," Alison said forcefully. "I haven't been in love with him for a long time actually…" She spoke without hesitation, and was quite for a moment afterwards. She knew she was breaking all the rules of having a new crush, the golden rule included; don't talk about your ex. The next rule being don't get drunk on your first date. Not that this was a date… Just two people drinking and dancing alone in their apartment together. _Well, actually, just two people dancing and only one of them is drinking…_

"It's just that you aren't supposed to bring other people into your issues, your drama, especially people you just met." She couldn't think of a better way to say it at the moment.

Jack nodded and thought about what she said. Was he bringing her into _his_ drama? Everything they were planning to do was illegal and she was a successful lawyer, working to become partner. Getting close to her could ruin either one of their plans. Worst case scenario: getting attached would ruin both of their plans and neither of them would have anything to fall back on, because she's end up hating him and he'd hate himself for being selfish.

How close was he willing to get? And how much does he care about her? Or his job? How much did he fear the consequences to stay away from her? Did he like her enough to damn magic, fame, and fortune to hell? Was fame and fortune even on the table at this point?

"It doesn't matter to me that we just met. I feel like I've known you forever, like you have always been a part of my life… You inspire me. There is something about you that makes me want to be a better person… to be my best self... I know I sound like a stuffy old romance movie, but I mean it. I really do. You aren't like any other girl I've ever met, even if we have just met."

Jack was rambling and Alison was laughing and turning red. She's never heard something so sweet in her life and she let Jack know by kissing him again. She sat down on the couch and pulled him down with her, their lips never separating. Jack couldn't be happier to have this amazing woman in his arms. Getting the privilege of making out with her was, by far, the best part of this mission, even if it was going to end poorly for him.

Alison did end up having another drink and Jack had one too- a water. There was more dancing involved too; slower dancing. Some of it was bump and grind and some of it was boarder line ball room. Alison felt freer than she had felt in a long time, more free to express herself and to take what she wanted. All she wanted right now was Jack, but would she let herself have him?

In the morning, Alison woke up, alone in her bed, with her phone ringing in her ear. It was her dad's cell.

 _Can I afford to ignore this?_ … _God, I sound like I'm back in college._

Jack woke up alone in his bed, listening to Alison's muffled voice from next door. He fought himself so hard to be a gentleman about last night. Going to bed alone after seeing stars was never an easy thing to do.

If it had been a different time and place, if Alison had been a different woman, a woman that he was never going to see again, the night would've ended much differently. He'd be waking up in a strange apartment (he would never bring a chick here, no matter who they were), without recollection of her name, and left without saying goodbye. Because sometimes, no matter how nice of a guy (or girl) you try to be, that's the way it goes.

But Alison could very well be the love of his life, so second base was all he would indulge himself in last night. He wondered if she'd regret it. He knew he didn't. He wondered if she wanted more. He knew he did.

Her phone call stopped and he heard her door open and the floor boards creak as she came down the hall. There was a tiny little tap on the door. Jack decided to test the waters a little bit more this morning.

"Come in," Jack said groggily, purposefully not getting up to put clothes on, but settled to pulled a sheet over his lower half.

Alison cracked the door a little, making sure it was safe and then entered. She was hugging her pillow to her chest in the cutest way, holding it to her chest with one arm and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with the other hand. _This is going to sound stupid,_ _but_ "I wanna be near you." She took one step into the room, but paused when she saw him. _Dang._ To say the very least, Jack looked a million times better than Thomas ever did with a shirt off. Even relaxed in bed, his arms, chest and abs looked toned and solid.

Alison padded across the room and stood by the side of his bed. He had an actually bed frame, even if it was without the head and foot boards, it kept him off of the floor at least. When Jack didn't respond right away, she took a step back with an apologetic look on her face, ready to make a run for it. He was just looking up at her, eyes half open with sleep still evident there. She couldn't begin to guess what was going on in his head. She originally thought she was being brave by making this move, but maybe she was totally wrong, and Jack probably thought that everything from last night was a huge mistake. Jack just shifted over to make room for her. He tried to keep a sexy poker face through this whole encounter, not really sure what he would accomplish from it.

Alison laid down facing him, on top of the sheets, trying her best not to be bothered by the fact that he was naked. _Is he naked?_ She kind of liked the idea that he was _that_ comfortable with her, but it was also intimidating. Or was he just trying to be sexy and turn her on? Either way she curled right up to him, their legs intertwining through the sheets immediately.

No matter what she was thinking, Jack new by her reaction that Alison wasn't interested in sex at this very moment and that was fine. He wasn't expecting her to be, but he noted that she had more will power than him. He saw her checking him out, even if she thought she was being sneaky. He didn't blame her for being cautious, but was glad that he didn't scare her away.

They happily cuddled as he draped an arm over her side, until falling back asleep for another couple minutes. Alison felt more comfortable in bed with this stranger than she did with Thomas in the last 2 years of their relationship. It was really nice to feel safe and protected. It was pathetic that someone she'd just met had so much power over her.

Jack felt ecstatic. His heart wouldn't stop pounding. He was barely able to sleep with her right next to him; his mind was too busy. _Should she be getting up to get ready? Did she have the day off? How did she just fall asleep right away? She must be comfortable. This is nice._

He allowed his eyes to close and cat napped a little. It had been a while since he last found himself like wrapped up in bed with a beautiful lady that he had come to care about so quickly. When he heard her yawn he opened his eyes again. She rolled over so that her back was to him, making herself the little spoon. Jack took the opportunity to place a few kisses on the nape of her neck and her exposed shoulder. If she were to rock her hips backwards just once, he'd be in big trouble.

Alison shivered at his action and her skin sprouted goosebumps. She let out an audible sigh. The only reason that she was here was because she felt like shit. All of her pent up depression that she'd been fighting through to remain at the top of her game hit her like a truck when she woke up this morning. It manifest itself in this empty, sickly feeling in her stomach after she'd been drinking, and without much sleep, she'd been reawakened when she told her dad that she left Thomas and he asked why.

"Because I don't love him anymore, Daddy. I haven't loved him for a long time now, and he didn't love me either."

It was a simple truth for a simple question, but it left her feel breathless, torn open and raw. It was no wonder that it was taking so long to become partner, despite her skills and mentoring. Alison honestly couldn't count the number of days that she'd woken up feeling like this, like the world was imploding around her and she was being suffocated.

She couldn't count the number of nights that she'd felt like going to sleep and never waking up. Through everything she'd been through, becoming partner was the one thing that motivated her to get out of bed in the morning, but getting out of bed and waking up to a man like Thomas was so hard to do.

All Thomas ever did, at least for the last few years, was put her down. Nothing about her experience with him resembled love, and she didn't even realize it until it was too late.

His voice was still engrained in her head despite being removed from the situation. _Not good enough. Nothing. Worthless. Stupid, needy piece of trash that I rescued from the shitter. You should be grateful, no one else would've done that for you and this is how you repay me. All you do, everything you ever do, is useless._

 _How many times do you have to hear something before you start believing that is must be true?_

 _How many times do you have to tell yourself the opposite before you start believing yourself again?_

Alison often meditated on her life to try to figure out exactly when it started. That's all she ever did anymore was think, and think, and think, and wish, and wish, and wish, that she'd been smarter and done something all that time ago.

If she'd never even gone to the party with her friends and never have met Thomas in the first place, how different would her life have been? Honestly?

Her answer was so simple, considering how much she thought about it.

Her dad seemed to accept her answer, but invited her to dinner on Sunday. Alison knew that the breakup would be the main topic of discussion. Her mother would take her side, but she's have to dig up so much stuff that she didn't know if she was ready to talk about yet. Thinking about it was one thing. Talking about it, explaining her feelings, justifying her decisions were an entirely different thing.

Her chest hurt, heart feeling heavy. He stomach felt like there was a boulder in the bottom of it. She wanted to cry. Maybe she'd feel better if she cried, but she didn't have the energy to. She needed all the extra strength she could manage to successfully pretend that nothing was wrong. _How am I going to manage this? They have been calling Thomas their future son in law for the last 3 years._

 _Why do I even bother? Look at me. I'm alone, living in a fucking dump. I'm just waiting for the next thing to go wrong at this point._

 _Is any of this worth it anymore? Is it worth it when I could just lay here all morning instead?_

 _How many people would really miss me today?_

Questions like this were dangerous because "all morning" turned into "forever" and "today" turned into "everyday".

 _Why do I get out of bed in the morning_ turns into "Why do I get out of bed at all."

And then there was Jack…

Alison knew that she was broken and Jack was in no way obligated to fix her. Just because he wanted to get in her pants doesn't mean anything. What exactly was she doing in his bed anyway?

No one could fix her, but her. The same way that no one could save her, but her. But how? And why?

If she was as useless as Thomas said she was, why bother?

Because she spent so long feeling like shit, that's why. Because she missed the way she felt before. She missed feeling happy, satisfied in life and her job. She missed enjoying laughter, music, and dancing with her friends. She was tired of feeling empty inside and Jack never made her feel that way.

Jack was sweet, kind, understanding and gentle with her, and passionate about something. He had a way with words, even if it was an awkward way with words. He made her feel comfortable, wanted, and desired for the first time in a very long time. He had a humble way about him, but also radiated with an infectious kind of self-confidence. As familiar as he felt to her, he was also mysterious and inspired her curiosity. And on top of all of these wonderful characteristics, as if all of this wasn't enough to make Alison swoon, he was also so very good looking.

But that made her a user, the same way that Thomas was a user. Alison couldn't use Jack to make her feel better. She couldn't lead him on like that. She was feeling particularly attached to Jack simply because he was there for her to attach herself to; he was there to fill the void.

Or was she? When all of your feelings and emotions are drained from you like this, it becomes difficult to determine what a genuine emotion is and what isn't. Jack made her feel better. He made her feel those things that she'd been missing. Was that really so bad?

Her dulled senses being assaulted with all of these foreign feelings was overwhelming enough, but now she was forced to overthink it all as well.

All she really needed was to get her life back together. _I'm almost there, aren't I? Maybe?_

And then she would be able to better consider Jack's place in her life and her place in his. Until then, if lying in bed with him on a Saturday morning made her feel a little bit better about her life, what was the harm in that? This could very well be the best thing that ever happened to her, she just wasn't at the capacity to recognize it yet.

She rolled back over to face him. He was sleeping now too. He looked peaceful and content, dreaming about who knows what. She wished she slept like that, with ease and peace.

She needed to check the time, but didn't want to roll over again and risk waking him. Alison's Saturday's were by appointment only. She couldn't remember if she had any, and she couldn't play hooky again.

She sat up and, as she already suspected, woke Jack. He sleepily rubbed her back and murmured something. Alison didn't turn around to look at him, but imagined how cute he would look, his eyes barely open and a little pout on his face.

Alison was so very tempted to lay back down and waste all day in bed with him, but she had to pee by this point. Getting up would be best.

"I'm going to get in the shower," she whispered, assuming that he'd hear her. "Go to the bathroom now, before I invade and conquer." Alison tossed her legs over the side of the bed and she felt Jack's arm snake around her waist. He wasn't holding her with any force, but she did stop.

"Alison," his whisper was low and hoarse; very sexy to say the least. "Do you have to go?"

"I'm not sure. I'm going to check." Alison saw that it was getting late in the morning and was afraid she might have missed something important. Even if she didn't have anything pressing she should still do some research on Tressler.

When Alison left the room, Jack stretched and woke himself up some more. Part of him was surprised and disappointed that this morning with Alison was uneventful. Jack ignored that part of him. _That's rude to think, given the circumstances._

Jack got up and put on a pot of coffee, waiting for his turn in the bathroom. Alison came out with wet hair, and in casual clothes.

"You look beautiful," Jack said handing her a cup.

"I'm in jeans and a T-shirt." She deadpanned, taking a gulp.

"No one has ever looked better." Her casual dress was certainly a cue that today would be a lazy, work-from-home type of Saturday. The best kind of Saturdays.


	10. Chapter 10

And so it was. The relaxing atmosphere would be completely uninterrupted for the next 3 weeks or so, because the other Horsemen were on a 7+ hour flight to Paris right about now. Jack and Alison had taken up a very comfortable position on the couch, each engrossed almost entirely in their own work.

The key word here being _almost_. Every once and a while Alison would look up from her paperwork and stare at Jack's profile as he reconstructed some blue prints from Legos. Whenever Jack got up to get more water or coffee, he would always top off Alison's glass as well. His hands would brush against her shoulders, or arms without fail, accidentally on purpose. She would occasionally reach over a rub or scratch his back absentmindedly, as a silent form of appreciation of him as a person and also for the strength in his muscles that she could feel there. It was more of a comfort for herself to have something to do with her hands, but she was certainly doing a very good job of distracting him as well.

When Henley called Jack to let him know that they had made it to the airport safely and were getting ready to board the plane, he put it on speakerphone so they could both say their goodbyes. This was the first break in the silence, followed by a loud growl of someone's stomach.

Jack took the liberty of getting them both bagels, and just left the plate close by. He watched as Alison, reach over for one and take a bite, without every breaking her concentration from her reading. Jack would, every once and a while, would watch her eyes tick tick tick across the page. He had a pretty good idea what she was reading.

Every once and a while, her facial expression would change ever so slightly. Her eyebrows would knit together carefully as her mouth pressed into a line. It wasn't quite a look of confusion, it might have been comprehension. One eyebrow would quirk up sometimes, ever so slightly, like she was challenging something in her own mind. Sometimes they would both raise like she was agreeing with or was surprised by the conclusion and her lips would part like she had something to say for a moment, before pressing together and turning to a resting position. Very rarely she would mouth some words silently to herself. Jack could never tell what they were, but he did notice.

He wondered to himself if this is how Merritt started, just mindlessly watching people's faces and making educated guesses. He'd have to remember to ask about that.

After quite sometime of staring at her, learning to read her face, Alison looked up. "May I help you," she asked, with a smirk.

Jack just laughed and turned away blushing, but Alison took this as a challenge. She put down her paperwork and stared at him too. He caught on a lot faster than she did this time and started laughing again. "Ok. Ok. I'm sorry."

Alison was just happy to be able to make him blush.

"What are you working on?" Jack asked. "Is it that one guy?"

"Tressler, yes. Insurance law sucks." That's all Alison had to say at first, but Jack kept looking at her expectantly, waiting for, and on some level, willing her to continue. "I always feel like I'm representing the bad guy. I just don't understand why insurance companies intentionally try to not do their job. I know you've got to make money, but it's just… dumb."

"Are you saying Tressler does illegal things?" Jack inquired innocently.

"No. I am speaking about insurance companies in general."

Jack opened his mouth like he was going to say something else, but Alison interrupted him before he could do so. "No further comment."

There was a moment of thoughtful silence between them.

"I didn't become a lawyer to represent bad guys." This caught Jack's attention and he turned to face her. "That's part of the reason I'm not partner yet, you know, even if our firm doesn't do criminal law. I'm not 'well rounded' according to the Bosses."

"Yes you are." Jack responded reaching over to touch her and then retracting his hand before he could. He shouldn't take this so seriously; she didn't seem to be.

"'Well rounded' isn't the right word. My portfolio isn't diversified enough, yet. I still lack experience in this area."

"But, what I'm hearing you say it, that's on purpose."

"Sure, but I want to be partner on purpose, too," Alison readjusted in her seat leaning against the arm rest to more or less face Jack. Her legs closed the distance between them.

"So, why did you become a lawyer?" Jack asked meeting Alison's eyes. She was contemplative for a moment, and Jack could see her forming the best possible answer in her mind.

"Most kids go through a super hero phase and all they want to do is save the world when they grow up. When they figure out that they weren't born with any supernatural power they can cultivate, they start thinking of other ways to make their dream come true. I think that's why Batman is so popular, because he's just your average billionaire, martial arts expert, right? Statistically, that's much more likely than being from another planet, bit by a radioactive bug, or chosen to be experimented on.

When I was young my mom really liked the criminal law shows on TV. _Criminal Minds, SVU_ , all that stuff. _They_ were like my super hero shows. Even though they focus on the detectives, I was always interested in the lawyers. They would take the law, something so concrete in my little mind back then, and bent it to their whim, so that the right people would go free. They could also reinforce 'the law' and make it impenetrable with evidence so that the right people would go to prison. They had the power of insight, intelligence, and a certain amount of wit, bravery, and cleverness to bring justice and keep their communities safe.

I wanted to be like that and in school I realized that I was smart enough, convincing enough, and dedicated enough to actually do it. Maybe I would never save the world, but I could make a difference in the lives of individuals and change their worlds, and that's the next best thing. I've always wanted to be a lawyer really. It's the closest thing to a super hero in my mind, right up there with being a doctor or a nurse and saving people's lives. As a lawyer have the ability and the opportunity to change the rest of someone's life."

It was quite possibly the most beautiful speech Jack had ever heard. It made it all the more special that it was up close and personal, and just for him. "So why not criminal law, then, if you want to change people's lives?"

"I learned so much about myself in law school. In undergrad I was in a pre-law sorority for smart girls, very tame, you know. Not girls gone wild or anything like that. But I would look around at all of the other sorority girls and how many of them were hazed, harassed, and assaulted and nothing would happen. I knew fraternity pledges who didn't survive initiation night because of alcohol poisoning, and the frats would get slaps on the wrists, when they _all_ should have gone to jail for man slaughter, reckless endangerment, and just being assholes. I would sit in my room and cry for these young men and women and just wonder. What could I do? How do I fix this system? How do I fight this? It reinforced my desire to be a lawyer, but…"

"But?"

"In law school, I did an internship of sorts for a big time lawyer, that'd I'd always looked up to. It was a dream come true. We were representing someone on trial for murder."

"Is this going to be anything like _Legally Blonde_?" Jack interrupted, just to lighten the mood. The passionate story took a rough turn. Luckily, Alison laughed.

"No, quite the opposite actually. The kid we were representing all but confessed to us that he did it, and my boss, just kind of brushed it off, and acted like he didn't really hear what he just said; kept moving forward with trying to get him off. I was confused. He's a murderer. He deserves to go to jail. He could kill again. I couldn't be responsible for that. My boss scolded me after I all but had a break down and told me that this was my job, it was my job to make sure he walked free, that's what he was paying me for. Told me to get back to work and figure out how to explain away the fact that the rope on this rich kid's boat matched the rope used to strangle the life out of his one-time date."

Jack prodded a little when Alison went quiet. "And?"

"I stood up and said, you aren't paying me for shit. It was an unpaid internship. And I quit. It's one of the only things I've ever quit." Alison was quiet again for another minute, before speaking up again. "I just couldn't bring myself to do it, job or no job."

"I understand. I would imagine that a lot of people share your feelings, that's why not anyone can become a lawyer. No one should have to compromise their own morals like that."

Alison met Jack's eyes for the first time since he asked her about criminal law. Jack was blinded by the broad toothy grin she was sending him and couldn't help but notice her eyes looking a little watery. "You always know exactly what to say to make me feel better."

Given that Thomas had the exact opposite reaction to her quitting her internship that year, the bar wasn't set very high, but Alison still felt Jack's kindness reach her heart. "You're the nicest person ever, you know that?" Alison continued to sing her praises of Jack as she leaned forward.

Alison suddenly stopped half to her destination, her eyelids half closed, as she realized that she really couldn't tell if Jack wanted to kiss her or not. He looked more than a little bit surprised. She sat back in her seat quickly, her face was 50 fades of red, suddenly transfixed with their little TV, and couldn't bear to look at Jack anymore.

She was just thinking that it might be better if she took her work into the other room, Alison felt Jack's hand on her knee. When she turned back to him, her lips were immediately captured with his in a pressing kiss. She pulled away for just a second, confused, before leaning back in a second later, so very happy.

Jack's hand slid up her leg and wrapped around Alison's waist and she shivered. He pulled her toward him, until she was sitting sideways across his lap. Alison slipped her hands up his arms and around his neck enjoying the felling of him under her hands. When they broke for air, Jack whispered her name like a prayer, one of the only prayers he's ever said.

"You can always kiss me. You never have to ask. Just. Whenever you like." Jack reassured her doubts in between hot, open mouth kisses.

These statements, of course, only made Alison want to kiss him even more. "That's a dangerous thing to say." She rested her forehead on his, her breath coming in short gasps. "What if I take you up on it?"

His head dipped into the crook of her neck as he whispered against the sensitive skin there. "I hope you do."

Their next kiss held an intimate passion that took Alison by surprise, to say the very least. Jack certainly knew how to leave a girl completely breathless. Jack boldly ran his hands over her legs and up her back at his leisure. There was no one there to interrupt them this time, so they could continue for as long as they wanted and Jack already told her, in different words, that he was happy to continue for as long as Alison wanted.

Jack was never known for keeping his hands to himself, and was especially proud to feel the goosebumps that erupted on her arms and legs when he grazed the small of her back or the nape of her neck just the right way. His senses were flooded with her; her smell, her touch, her taste. He couldn't get enough of her, and Alison felt the same way.

It was almost overwhelming actually. Alison could only hope that the internal struggle she was having wasn't somehow translating into her make out skills. Was she gonna back off anytime soon, as the more rational side of her brain was begging her to do? Or was she going to straddle and strip him now, have her 15 minutes of fun, so she could finally move on with her life, as the _other_ side of her brain was encouraging her to do?

 _Fuck it. Best to quit while I'm ahead, I suppose._

Alison pulled away slowly, almost regretfully. This gave Jack pause as he wracked his brain trying to figure out what that look in her eyes meant.

"I, uh, should get back to work." Alison met his eyes and smiled, trying desperately to convey that there was nothing wrong.

"Of course," Jack said in a husky voice that Alison's heart melted for. "If you want to take another break…" Jack shot her a wink as she retreated to her side of the couch, and chuckled a deep blush rushed to her cheeks.

They both found it easy to fall back in to the comfortable flow of their work. Jack moved to the computer on the other side of the living room to look at blue prints, Alison assumed, as she continued with the Tressler files.

Later that evening, after Alison made dinner, they ate, Jack did the dishes, and Alison retreated to the bathroom for her nighttime routine, Jack got a call on Messenger from Henley. Jack couldn't explain the burst of excitement that he felt. He should be jealous that his partners were in Paris without him.

"Hey girl, hang on one sec!" Jack ran in to the bathroom and caught Alison with her toothbrush in her mouth.

"Jack!"

"It's Henley! They made it, say hey."

Alison took a second to spit and could hear Henley laughing even without speaker phone on. "Hi guys! Thanks for checking in. Glad you made it! Get out."

Jack laughed loudly too as he pulled the door shut behind him. _What was that for?_ Jack surprises himself sometimes too.

When Alison emerged ready for bed, Jack was waiting for her. _Waiting for me to leave the bathroom?_ Alison stepped out of his way and into her bedroom door way for him to get by, completely enamored by the sexy, sly, smolder he was wearing. He stopped in front of her, before entering the restroom.

Jack was incredibly amused by the doe eyed, shocked school girl look that she was giving him. She looked at him like she couldn't believe he was looking at her. It was very ego boosting.

Jack turned and leaned one arm on her door frame. _Has he always been this much taller than me?_

"Good night, gorgeous." Alison was so focused on, so captivated by, his eyes that his words surprised her. She instinctive leaned forward again, not even sure if her eyes closed all the way, before her lips found is, in a brief kiss.

"Good night." Alison gave him a peaceful smile. She wasn't tired physically, but she was all out of brain power for the day, and would need to sleep for her journey in the morning.

Jack could see all of this in her eyes and turned to leave her be, running his hand down her arm, before walking back to the living room. _That's all I'm going to get for today…_

"Um, Jack?" Alison called. As much as she liked to watch him walk away, she thought she should give him a heads up about tomorrow. _Even if I don't invite him, I should probably tell him._

Jack's heart leapt into his throat, not knowing what she was going to ask of him. _I know I shouldn't be getting my hopes up, but who could blame me? Today's make out session was real torture…_

"I'll be leaving early in the morning, and will be gone all day, so I figured, if there is any top secret mission you need to get done, that you didn't do during the week…"

"Oh, right. Yeah, thanks." Alison thought she might have seen a hint of disappointment cross his face, but she wasn't so sure.

"It's family dinner, with my parents. They live two and a half hours from the city, so…"

"Oh ok. Well, I hope you have a good time." Jack really meant it, even if he would miss having her around tomorrow, and gave her a smile.

"Thanks. Good night." Alison smiled at him like he was the nicest person that she'd ever met, which Jack knew to be far from the truth.

"Night, babe."

When Jack woke up on the morning, Alison had already left. All that was left was to get to work. There were blue prints that needed blown up and printed out, modules that needed made, and w _hen the hell did being a magician get so boring?_

Jack sipped his coffee and looked around at the mess that was their apartment, still shook by the fact he could call it _their_ apartment. With a sigh, he simply had to get to work.

Alison took the first train she could get into Grand Central, which was in the wrong direction, but not unnecessary. She changed there to the first train all the way out to Tarrytown. She wasn't lucky enough to get an Express train unfortunately, and would have to sit for upwards of an hour, before meeting her father and making another 2 hour trip by car to Ferndale.

She'd brought her work to continue to review on the train ride, not just the Tressler files, but her other cases as well. _I did enough reading about insurance suits yesterday to last any normal person a life time._

Melanie had emailed her messages from yesterday and Alison took her time to appropriately respond. Nothing was urgent, of course, otherwise Melanie would've called her or some of her other higher-profile clients would've called her cell.

Alison liked working on the train. People usually left her alone when they saw that she was busy. When she switched trains, Alison called her dad and told him how long she predicted it would be. No matter what time she told him, he would still have to wait on her to get there. That's just the way these long train trips were.

Even though she was focused on work, Alison really did look forward to spending time with her parents. Mom's food always made the early mornings worth it. Mom's food and Dad's coffee. Despite herself, Alison was anxious to hear their reactions to the fact that she left Thomas. A reaction over the phone and a reaction in person were usually very different things.

Dad had been kind the other day, simply because he didn't have the full story, but Alison could guarantee that this would be different. If they knew the full story, things would have been different a long time ago. _What is Momma going to say?_


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Happy New Year! I wanted to let everyone know that I am ALWAYS open to feedback, good or bad. Anything to help me grow as a writer this year! Or, if you just want to say hey, that works too. This chapter is much shorter than average, but I hope y'all enjoy it anyway. xoxo, AlyNoel**

The first thing out of Alison's dad's mouth was, "Hi honey, it seems so funny to see you without Tom." Not that Alison thought that he meant it in any type of way, but it stung like a bitch and peaked her anxiety. Dad could clearly tell, when his daughter's body stiffened, like she turned to ice in his arms, as they hugged.

Dad was a tall, solidly built man, with a graying buzz cut that used to be a dark brown and a well-kept mustache that was totally gray. He still looked like he was active military, but he at this point in his life he just did security. They've always had a good relationship, and it was only strengthened when she moved away to college. Her dad pushed Alison to be the very best that she could be, in everything that she did, which Alison appreciated very much.

After picking up coffee, Alison was feeling a little bit better. She and her dad fell into their more familiar routine. They blasted music that they both loved and sang their hearts out in the goofiest ways. It was one of the best quality times that they spent together. They never wanted to talk about anything serious or important because she would just have to repeat everything when they sat down with Mom.

Mom was a short, stubborn little thing, with thick glasses that sat on the end of her nose and an even thicker German accent, even after all of her time in the States. She and Alison could have been sisters if they were closer in age. She was the kind of mother that would do anything for her family. Her mom always wanted a traditional life for Alison, wanted Alison to live the American dream like she had been able to do with her amazing husband. This was the one thing that Alison and Mom didn't always see eye to eye on that aspect. Alison clearly wanted to be a career woman, but she did have Thomas at one point, which made it a little bit better.

"So your dad tells me that I won't get made an Oma any time soon," was the first thing that Alison's mom said to her, when they came in through the door of Alison's childhood home, still up on their rock star high. Alison's shoulders dropped visibly, her laugh dying away.

"It's good to see you too, Momma." Alison called to her mom while sheading her jacket. As per usual, she'd left all of her work materials in her dad's car, as to avoid distractions.

"Come in here, have some breakfast, and tell me why not."

"It's not a very nice story to be having at breakfast, to be honest."

"I'll judge that." Alison could tell already they there was going to be no room for distractions today; her mother wasn't going to allow it.

All three of the Kelley's quickly fell into line in the kitchen, getting to work right away, as per their usual routine. Mom was almost done cooking, so Alison set the table for breakfast, and Dad started to clean the dishes that were left in Mom's wake as she went along.

It was a long conversation that was made even longer with all of the food that her mother prepared, and pretty much took all day, ultimately spanning several meals. Alison had never spoken so much in her whole life, leaving nothing undiscussed, but surprisingly not emotional about the extensive retelling. Her parents were plenty emotional for her, which almost as overwhelming as having a breakdown herself. But she was rights; it wasn't a good story for breakfast or any other time.

Her father and mother were equally furious and devastated as is appropriate when your only child has been dealing with abuse. There was also a chorus of well-meant chastising. "Why didn't you tell us about this? Why didn't you leave him sooner? Why did you let this continue for so long? Three years is way too long."

"Yeah, I know, and I don't really have a good excuse as to why. I suppose… I just figured that it would stop eventually, and we would go back to the way it was before. But it never did. Well, it happened and now it is over. I'm starting over." Alison thought that these were beautiful, finite words that would finally lead to packing the leftovers, and heading back to the city.

On the contrary, this lead to an incredibly long string of questions. "Where are you staying? Who are you staying with? A man? What does he do?"

The parents' faces when Alison spoke about her current situation mirrored their faces when she spoke about her previous situation. She left out the "magic" part and simply said that Jack was a bar tender, which wasn't a total lie. He did make her awesome drinks. "There is no reason that you need to be living like this. You've worked too hard. This doesn't have to be your fresh start. This is hardly a fresh start at all."

"But I'm managing just fine. It's easier than you think. I'm saving my money by having a roommate and I'm doing ok, honestly. I am able to focus on work again."

"We didn't even talk about work. I suppose we'll have to save that for another day. That'll take a whole other Sunday, won't it?"

"Yes, I suppose it will, Mom, but I do have a train to catch. Two trains to catch actually."

"We will also need to meet this roommate soon, won't we, dear?"

"No, Dad, I don't think that will be necessary."

"And why not? We met all of your roommates in college. What makes Jack any different?" Dad looked at Alison skeptically.

"Hey, don't question my integrity now." Alison didn't feel like telling them what made Jack so different just yet. It didn't seem fair considering that she wasn't so sure herself.

Mom sent her away with enough leftovers to last her and Jack well into the next week. She and her dad had a much different car ride than the one that morning.

"I know that you don't want to hear this, and I know that it won't make you feel any better, but I feel like I need to say this, for my own reassurance." Dad took his daughter's hand as he drove the familiar rode back to Tarrytown. He rubbed her knuckles with his thumb in a soothing familiar way. Tears welt up in his eyes, as he silently watch the rode in front of him, the headlights of the car slicing through the dark.

"I think that your mother would feel the same way as I do, even though she would never ever say this to you."

"What is it, Daddy?" Alison had a sinking feeling that she already knew what he was going to say and she already knew that she didn't want to hear it.

"What you are facing right now proves that we are not good parents. We are at fault for what has happened to you… Whether we simply were not observant enough to notice or that we were not trustworthy enough for you to confide in us or…"

"None of those things are true. At. All. I would never think those things about you. You and Mom are the best parents ever. That's not true, Daddy, please."

They both had tears running down their faces now, but nothing could be done. Some things simply had to be said, so that they both could heal.

Alison's nose was running and red by the time she was catching the train from Tarrytown to Grand Central, but at least she could get back to work. She wasn't sure if she wanted to at this point, but it was better than wallowing in the guilt that she felt from upsetting her parents. It truly was an emotionally draining day, but she had plenty more to look forward to on Monday at work.

It was very late by the time Alison made it up the stairs and into the apartment. Jack was still awake, but Alison was too tired to consider what he was working on, if anything at all.

"Hey, you're back." His delighted voice was nice to hear, but Alison wasn't in the mood.

"Goodnight." Alison's response was short, and less than sweet.

"Oh…" Jack tried not to feel dejected. He really didn't have the right to, considering he still wasn't sure of their relationship yet. He knew for sure that it was something more than roommates, but it didn't take a genius to figure that out.

Jack thought about the status of their relationship extensively while Alison was out today. He even considered calling Merritt and asking for his opinion, but that old pervert probably wouldn't have anything helpful to say. Other than him though, Jack didn't really have anyone else to go to for advice. The other Horseman were great for professional development, but not for personal problems. Daniel made that perfectly clear within the first few meetings. Merritt obviously had other plans for Henley, but Jack didn't foresee Henley letting that happen.

The more Jack thought about Alison, the less he accomplished, so of course he tried to limit himself, but it difficult to do so. Jack actually felt that he accomplished plenty today, including thinking about Alison. All he really wanted to know is what was going on between them. The simplest solution that he could come up with in attempts to figure this out, was to ask Alison herself and go with whatever she said.

But again, Jack wasn't even sure if he had the right to be thinking about Alison like this. He couldn't think of a single reason why he should approach her to talk about 'them'.

If he were to ask, what would she say? What did he expect her to say? An even better question; what did he _want_ her to say?

Jack just needed her to confirm his suspicions, that they were moving in the general direction of being more than friends. Not very specific, but still an important distinction to make. Jack couldn't say for sure if he would care where they would end up…. Could he? Would he be upset if they were only fuck buddies?

This thought crossed his mind about midday and he realized when she walked in the door, and just as quickly disappeared down the hall, that, yes, he would actually be upset if they were nothing more than fuck buddies.

Jack realized that he cared about Alison much more than that several days ago, but he wasn't sure if she cared about him at all. Sure she liked making out with him, that was obvious, and he would and did gladly encourage it, but did she _like_ him?

Jack felt like such a little kid. He realized this and was suddenly pissed off at himself. The other Horseman treated him like a kid, and here he was proving them right. For a very different reason than what they were usually on his ass for, but still childish.

Jack decided he needed to man up and make a move. He pride was at stake. But he still wasn't sure what that move should be. Whatever it was going to be, it would have to wait until morning.


End file.
